[nick n]

I figured the CABLES section would be about the best place to hit up.
I recently got a pair of 1968-1970 German GRUNDIG model 211A 400ohm headphones and they have odd ends. I need help with either adaptors, options for replacing the connectors, information as to what they used to connect to so I can consider sourcing that out, and what the pins exactly would be i.e. ground, positive, etc.
I just whipped up a lame drawing. Sorry it could only save as an OpenOffice document so I screen-shot that then cut that up with GIMP into the attached diagram.
Original thread is here: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/542934/grundig-211-a-any-info-what-are-these-pics-added
As mentioned in the original thread these can be piggybacked in series as well. The left female slot may be a non-functional thing in the brown pcb material I have no clue.
 
Sorry about my impatience. They are sitting in front of me every time I sit down here on the computer and laughing at me. Seeing as they are 400 ohm I really would like to try them and am avoiding the snip of the wire-cutters in favour of attaching a proper or original connection. There is also a tiny screw/nut combo to open these connectors up on the sides of each one.... soooo tempting.
I doubt many people would know this. Maybe some weird European thing. Not that Europeans are weird mind you...at least not ALL

of them...hahaha
 
Hopefully someone speaks ze Germania and can decipher the links with the original catalog information.
ANY help is appreciated immensely.
 
Nick

 
[EDIT] It appears that this is a European DIN unshielded Line Plug.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_connector
link above is clickable
article states :"A polarised two-pin unshielded connector, designed for connecting a loudspeaker to a power amplifier (or other device; many of the earlier shoebox style tape recorders used them), is known as the DIN 41529 loudspeaker connector. It exists as a panel-mounting female version, and line-mounted male and female versions. The male version has a central flat pin, and circular pin mounted off-centre. The circular pin should be connected to the positive line (red) while the spade should be connected to the negative line (black)"
 
Considering that each side of these has it's own connector, I am guessing that all I need to do is hit up the local electronic supply shop and get some adapters/parts/RCA ends to start soldering up? Is this going to have to be ideally an RCA left and right cable ( which would have a ground on each left and right ) hooked up to one of my amp channel's output ?  === if this is the case then if I am feeding sound- signal input to say, the CD LINE IN channel, I guess these Headphone RCA's will HAVE TO BE on the exact same channel's output to get signal feed to the Headphones?  Which means I will have to switch them all the time depending upon whatever respective channel is grabbing the input feed.
 
If I can get away with grafting this to a "modern" headphone jack it will let me grab whatever channel is currently selected without rummaging around in the back of the receiver all the time.................... 
SO : if it gets a single 1/4 " headphone jack is this going to screw up the right and left polarities due to the 4 wires it would have to join to? ///or 3 wires---one a common ground and then right positive and left positive.Confused.
There must be different headphone jack pin configurations ( 2 bands, 3 bands etc ) Which should I get? Headphone jack would be ideal, but I'll take what I can get for now.
 
Maybe I could do both RCA ends with a separate RCA-to-headphone jack adapter.
 
phew long winded issues that are probably non-issues. Thanks for any advice forthcoming.

 

[VictoriaGuy]

Do you have a soldering iron?
What sort of 'Headphone Jack' does your amplifier/receiver have?
Get a stereo phone plug to match your amp jack. Tie the headphone grounds together and wire up the plug.
 
If the leads from the headphones aren't long enough to suit you, this is an ideal time to add some extra cable.- 3-conductor microphone cable, or any 3 conductor cable will do the job.
 
I don't understand your point about :"signal input to say, the CD LINE IN channel, I guess these Headphone RCA's will HAVE TO BE on the exact same channel's output to get signal feed to the Headphones? Which means I will have to switch them all the time depending upon whatever respective channel is grabbing the input feed."
 
Perhaps a pic of the back/front of your amp/receiver would help here.

 

[nick n]

Well I went ahead and at least got them soldered and fired up using some RCA  connections. I cut the old weird ones off. These are very clear sounding!!!! Have to replace the foam padding and report back in the other thread.
 
"I don't understand your point about :"signal input to say, the CD LINE IN channel, I guess these Headphone RCA's will HAVE TO BE on the exact same channel's output to get signal feed to the Headphones?..."
 
What I meant was that if I went with grafting on RCA ends rather than the headphone jack, the RCA ends would be limiting because they could only be able to hook up to the back of my amp with a channel that has INPUT from the source signal and an OUTPUT in the same channel.
This is whatI have going on now just for the sake of getting these going to try.
I will definitely go get a proper headphone jack tomorrow that will work on my amp.
 
Right now due to the 'phones being connected through the RCA OUTPUT on the channel that receives the INPUT, it seems the only way I can adjust the volume on these is through altering volume on the original input source feed ( My computer ). I tried adjusting the volume on the amp itself but no change at all. ( must be  simply a sort of pass-thru ) The computer volume has to be maxxed out to get these rolling to a decent level.
 
However if this was connected through the front headphone jack it CAN be adjusted both the through the amp and the original source ( My computer ) at the same time which allows some tweaking
 
Going to take your advice and grab a decent 1/4" headphone jack plug tomorrow.
 
Thanks.
hahaha  Victoria . What are the odds of that.
 
 
 

 

[VictoriaGuy]

Now that you have RCAs on the ends of the headphone leads, you can buy a RCA female to 1/4" stereo PLUG Y-adapter. (or just dump the RCAs and wire to a plug).
In Victoria, Quaele or The Source (Hillside) should have what you need.
 
(Jack is the 'female' , plug is the male end.....) You need a PLUG to match with the phone jack on the front of your receiver.
 
 

 

[nick n]

Queale is a dangerous place for me. I seem to spend a bunch of $ whenever I go there. I seem drawn to that sort of stuff for some reason. Past life maybe?  Queale is exactly what I was thinking of.....my current passively cooled computer mod project needs a few things there as well. And maybe Capital Iron for the foam.

 

[scootermafia]

Whatever it is, cut it off and solder on up to date plugs...

 

[nick n]

Just got that done and hooked up the same as the other headphones I have in the proper headphone-out jack now. On to the earpads next.