[geetarman49]

x3 ...  with this finely braided wire, you can apply a bit of flux paste & pre-tin the wire with a blob of solder. sufficient heat will vaporize the enamel. then use your multimeter & check for continuity from the pre-tinned wire ends to the appropriate tip, ring or sleeve at the other end before soldering the 3.5mm plug.  if you don't get continuity, then there is still enamel interfering with conductivity - apply more heat; re-tin.  (sandpapering will work for thicker solid-core, but not for this stuff).
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I set my iron on high, put a solder blob on the end, and touch it to the wire. That usually burns the enamel right off without damaging the wire, and also tins the end.

 
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I don't understand why you are having trouble with removing the enamel.
 
Unwind the plastic fibers around the wire (you can cut or burn those off too)
Then simply use a lighter to burn off a few millimeters off the ends or the wires.
The second the wires starts to glow , stop.
The black carbon will just rub of with your finger and you are ready to solder.
 
If you you have a muiltimeter, then check for conductivity.
 
Hope that helped

 

[shrimants]

I guess I will try that. I'm too new to this type of wire and I've tried soldering it before with no luck. It soldered on just fine but there was no electrical conductivity. All it left me with was a useless wire and a useless 3.5mm jack. I think i'll try setting the soldering iron on high and do the solder technique. The lighter thing didnt work, I already tried it. It caught the entire wire on fire and left nothing behind, or it left so much carbon behind that it was impossible to rub off. Worst case scenario i'll clean up the radioshack jack and try to return it to the store if the job goes wrong and get my money back and use it towards a thin 3.5mm male male wire and just say screw it.

 

[Magick Man]

Also curious to hear how it sounds. Love tubes, but heard the Fostexes do better with ss. 

Not particularly, it just depends on the amp.

 

[geetarman49]

yes, put iron on high ... apply iron to the conductor & wait until u see/smell enamel burning off.  then apply solder to the conductor and pre-tin the conductor.  then check conductor for continuity.  repeat two more times for the other conductors.  with all 3 conductors now pre-tinned with sufficient solder, go ahead and solder the appropriate conductor to tip, ring and sleeve connectors of the 3.5mm plug.  Next, check again for continuity from plug to plug - tip, ring, and finally sleeve.
 
<don't forget - the stock cable will still be susceptible to random cutoffs at the headphone jack, so apply some deoxit or other electronics contact cleaner/conditioner to the headphone plug and work it around.>
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I guess I will try that. I'm too new to this type of wire and I've tried soldering it before with no luck. It soldered on just fine but there was no electrical conductivity. All it left me with was a useless wire and a useless 3.5mm jack. I think i'll try setting the soldering iron on high and do the solder technique. ...

 

[bachiano]

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Thanks for the honor

 

[rhythmdevils]

Well deserved! 
 
It's not crazy to drive T50rp's with an ipod.  I listen to mine with an ipod all the time.  They sound great.  Of course, they will improve with better amp and source.  But your damping scheme will change them way more than any amp, source or cable ever will. 
 
If you're going to spend 400 dollars, you're better off with a Paradox and ipod than with a poorly damped T50rp and budget source/amp.  This statement is not approved by LFF

 

[shrimants]

I would just like to clarify. I'm not talking about the INTERNAL wiring on the fostex at all. I'm talking about the detachable cable that came with the fostex. Everyone says to not bother with that cable but I have no real alternative in my area apart from going to radioshack or something and buying an aftermarket cable. The cable i'm talking about soldering/enamel on is the detachable cable that comes with the fostex, not the internal wiring in the fostex.

 

[bachiano]

Quote:

I would just like to clarify. I'm not talking about the INTERNAL wiring on the fostex at all. I'm talking about the detachable cable that came with the fostex. Everyone says to not bother with that cable but I have no real alternative in my area apart from going to radioshack or something and buying an aftermarket cable. The cable i'm talking about soldering/enamel on is the detachable cable that comes with the fostex, not the internal wiring in the fostex.

I get that.
So what is the problem ???

 

[shrimants]

I guess nothing anymore. I didnt want to screw up my soldering iron by leaving crap all over the tip from the enamel. The way I see it, I have a few options: I could cut the headphone jack out entirely and have it be external so that all solder work would be internal, I could try to solder this wire, I could simply buy a cheap cable and return the 3.5mm plug I currently have, or I could try to solder the current plug and see where it gets me.

After seeing the construction of this wire (cloth thread wrapped with enamel wire) I feel like it is hopeless to even bother trying to solder it. I'm not sure if it is a good idea to solder it if I can get 10 bucks back for the 3.5mm jacks I purchased and buy a proper aftermarket cable and just put hot glue or blue tack or something to seal the hole, either from the inside or outside. I dont see the point of the locking mechanism in the first place, its not like i'll be headbanging with these on or anything.

I think i'll just save my money and my iron and return my materials and finally be able to give these things a listen and see what the current mods actually do. I want to get around to actually modding them, not fretting over some crappy enamel coated IEM wire that I dont even care about. I just want these to sound nice and since I'm not one of the believers of cables causing a difference in sound quality (within reason, obviously) I dont see the point in me screwing with this when my hard earned 10 bucks (college kid, no job, meager allowance) is well spent elsewhere like on dynamat and paxmate and modeling clay

 

[rhythmdevils]

Why didn't you just get the Vmoda cable in the first place?

 

[shrimants]

I havent been following this thread all that religiously and only learned about the v-moda cable recently when someone mentioned it. The headphones were meant to be a summer modding project as I didnt have the time to devote to them during the school year and now that the school year is finished i finally have enough down time to devote to modding it. Also, I had to unsubscribe from this thread for a while because it would update my email inbox with spam-like frequency. I tried playing with the frequency settings like setting it to daily digest and site only but for whatever reason that doesnt seem to work for me and started to screw with other subscriptions.

Anyways, as unfortunate as it is, not all lessons can be learned the easy way. I'm not distraught over it or anything. its all just a part of how modding works. I just know that this is one of those fights that i'd rather not pick (with the cable) lol. Especially because when I first joined the thread, everyone was advising against modding the original cable in the first place. I thought it might be a good way to practice for creating custom cables, especially since I didnt have the money to blow on spools of cable for my own projects that would look nicer.

 

[rhythmdevils]

So you were trying to hardwire the stock cable?  Or reterminate the stock cable with a new right angle mini?

 

[shrimants]

Original stock cable is 3.5mm right angle -> quarter inch straight. I wanted it to be 3.5mm right angle -> 3.5mm straight reterminated. However, since it has those crappy tiny IEM wires inside that are near impossible to solder on (or rather, i just dont want to break something that doesnt need to be broken) I'd rather save the money and return the 2 3.5mm plugs I bought (one for my ATH-m50's, the heat shrink tubing, and the one for my fostex) and get my 20 bucks back and spend it on something I DO need, like the v-moda cable and some modding materials.

 

[kalbee]

As I recall, you can buy wires on ebay or equivalent for pretty cheap. Perhaps in the end it won't be as cheap as buying the whole bulk roll but if you truly want to DIY there's a thread to DIY cables and there may be some links that are still alive.
 
But of course, if 2x 3.5mm jacks are already $10 then the V-MODA cables may end up cheaper, if only for one project.

 

[nick n]

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What no flexible solar panel across the top of the headband, and no linked in OCZ Neuralizer to control the ipod with your thoughts?

 
 
That's a great setup ingenious work!