How to open SE530 to replace cable?

[absoluNewbie]

can anyone point me in the right direction please?

 

[ClieOS]

I can show you some pictures but there truth is, it is quite hard to do and not for the faint of heart. Basically you need to cut open the shell using either an extremely sharp knife or X-Acto heated knife and open it up very carefully, then desolder the old wire solder the new cable in on printed soft circuit. If you do the opening careful enough, you can still use the shell again. If not, you will need a new shell which is very difficult to find outside of China. Even if you do a fairly good job, the good chance is there will be some marking on the shell once you are done. There are actually some businesses in China doing this kind of work. For the rest of the world, playing a few bucks more to get the IEM reshell is the easier option.

 

[absoluNewbie]

could you show me the pictures? also how much would a recabling cost in china? (assume this cheaper than not in china?) thanks

 

[absoluNewbie]

also, i understand it has 3 drivers in ea , is it possible to have a driver blown and the unit still working? i suspect there is a noticable difference if this is the case?

 

[ClieOS]

This is by a person who is more interested in cracking open to see the inner of SE530, but the procedure is more or less the same as recabling:
http://www.erji.net/read.php?tid=666996
 
Here is a finished product, by a DIY'er who know what he is doing:
http://sound.zol.com.cn/69/692488.html

 

[absoluNewbie]

thanks for em links, so i can pull the rubber thing at the base of the shell out? mine wont budge. cut the shell and proceed?
 
also i notice, a fluctuation of loudness depending on how i hold my cable (it's twisted in several places), i assume this is due to variating current running through the driver? can this damage said driver?

 

[ClieOS]

Driver damage is rare unless you connected your IEM to a faulty source before or pull on the cable near the earpieces all the time. Most likely it is the wire, Y splitter or the plug that has a faulty connection. If I were you, I will try to determine where the faulty connection is. If it is on the plug, retermination will fit that and it is much more easy to do than recable.

 

[absoluNewbie]

the terminals are good, look good anyway, they are neutrik idk what kind, cable is indeterminate as no marking (black cable) but it is twisted in several places, twisted to the point where if im jogging with them on, the phones will sound loud in one step and less loud with another.
 
also, discovered that the left earphone is less loud that the right, to the point that if i have both plugged into my ear, i cant tell that the left one is on (but can tell it's on when the left one is by itself)
 
edit: can i just cut the cables where it's twisted and solder them? will this work?

 

[goodvibes]

Quote:

This is by a person who is more interested in cracking open to see the inner of SE530, but the procedure is more or less the same as recabling:
http://www.erji.net/read.php?tid=666996
 
Here is a finished product, by a DIY'er who know what he is doing:
http://sound.zol.com.cn/69/692488.html

Quite the contrast.

If you look at the bass drivers, there's a vent. Would make it VERY important to get a complete seal on reassembly or the mids would definitely get wooly. With twisted cables, it would take some sealant. I'd try a bit of heat on disassembly. Maybe about 250*F and see if it softens the glue. Anything that won't melt the plastic shouldn't hurt other bits.

 

[absoluNewbie]

which glue?

 

[absoluNewbie]

so the plan is, strip the coating, solder, heatshrink, basically end up with 2 heat shrunk cables for each left and right, good plan?

 

[absoluNewbie]

im so confused, managed to get rubber thing off, discovered they have no relevance whatsoever to getting shell open.
 
tried prying shell apart using scalpel, got some (what i presume to be adhesive) between the shells off, shells wont budge, trying to cut deeper into shell, hit what i think is plastic, no luck, tried razor blade, cutter blade, i dont have anything fancier,  or sharper, i think.
 
is there no glue between the shells? i have to actually cut into the plastic of the shell? can anyone shed some light on this please? thanks.

 

[absoluNewbie]

bump help please?

 

[ClieOS]

There is no glue in SE530, the two side of the plastic are probably fused together under pressure.

 

[159650]

I own a pair of those myself, and I've been constantly worried about the dreaded cable cracking ever since the day I bought them. Lucky for me I already knew what to expect so I wash them weekly with soap solution. I decided that when/if my cables finally go, I would rather take them to Shure and have them repaired or request an outright replacement with the 140 dollar fee. I'd reckon the replacement unit would be the post June 2008 models which no longer suffer from the defective cables.
 
The reason is that I definitely know I wouldn't be able to open up the IEMs on my own especially since I have close to no experience at all in such matters. Furthermore, I baby mine so much that it would hurt me to open mine up with a sharp knife or any heated metals. I was actually wincing when I saw those pictures of the opened up SE530. Its horrible. 
And once the recabling is done, which I don't think would be cheap cause I heard from other headfiers that it isn't, it would take time sending and receiving the item via post, and it would take longer still if its international. Then there is the issue with customs if you happen to live in the Philippines where everyone in the customs office is eager to rip everyone off.
 
So my personal decision would be to have the units replaced at Shure and spare myself the headache. 
 
Good luck whatever your decision may be.