[musicmonkey]

Hi Peeps, I've had very many happy hours (days?) use out of my ER-4P's after taking advice from this site regarding decent canal phones for use with my iriver H340 and i thank you.

But!............ I must admit that the cable length gets on my ****!!!.......I've tried using cable wraps, cable ties, duct tape, twisty ties etc - and have come to the conclusion that i need a shorter cable.

I sent an email to "Etymotic-usa" enquiring as to how much a shorter cable would cost to get fitted and i've had a reply stating "I will forward your request on to our product review and marketing committees", Hmmmm - didn't really answer my question as to the cost of a shorter cable or whether or not they would fit one if i pay all costs and shipping (i stay in the UK).............. As i only use the Ety's with my H340 and Lcd remote, i figure that i need a cable length of 14 inches from the end of the green resistor block to the headphone plug.

Has anyone got any solutions?........or do you know of anyone who could carry out this modification in the UK?.

Many thanks...

 

[Natsuiro]

Well I think you could just slice it at the point of desired length and solder on a new mini plug.

 

[musicmonkey]

Natsuiro : I thought of trying that..... but the only experience i have of joining materials is Tig/Arc/Gas welding, so i'm a bit wary of the outcome - and as it's for use with a dap i'd rather it had a moulded angled headphone jack.......

 

[le_paulo]

Do not try to cut the cable on the er-4p. The cable is not standard wiring and you'll have a very hard time trying to solder the mini-plug.

Do a search on the forums - there was a discussion about this last year.

 

[jpelg]

I've inquired several times to Don Wilson of Etymotic about getting a short-cord for the ER4's. There were one-off prototypes done in the past, but Don did not like how they turned out (his words). He said it was one of his projects to work on, but it has been on the back-burner for a long time now. I don't think he anticipates this happening soon.

Xin (Fixup.net) used to sell his own version of cable for Ety's. His design was to alleviate the microphonics associated with the stock cable, but a "short-corded" version could be made also. He does not make/sell them anymore though, citing the extensive work involved being prohibitive.

If you want to try your own hand at it, or commision someone else to do it for you, Xin's instructions for making your own Ety cable can be found here. One of the more difficult aspects is to get the correct size pins to plug into the Ety drivers, as there is no OEM source that I know of.

 

[musicmonkey]

Hmmmn, Seems like i'll just have to put up with it for now....... and hope the "etymotic research dept" come up with a solution soon.

What exactly is the problem making a shorter cable?, surely it's just a matter of setting up the manufacturing process to use a reduced cable length. Or am i being over simplistic in my understanding of ety cable engineering?.

PS : I have quite a considerable background in mechanical engineering and process design, so i cannot for the life of me see what the problem is.

They do sound fantastic though!.

 

[XBTed]

Here's my idea,

Go up to Radio Shack, or whatever your equivalent is in the UK, and buy some heat shrink tubing. Make an S-shaped bend in your headphone cable until you have the length you like (folding the cable onto itself, like in an s-shape). Slip the heat shrink over the bend, and use a hair-dryer or iron to shrink the tubing. Now you'll have the lenghth cord you like without cutting up your cable or buying another one. Of course it may be a bit difficult getting that 90 degree jack into the tube, so you may want to remove the cables from the drivers, or maybe go up to the hobby shop and get heat-shrink wrap like they use to cover model airplanes. Then you can use that wrap to cover the s-bend in the cable.

 

[null]

You could also buy a specialized cable tie or wrap for a few dollars and end up with a non-permanent solution.

 

[nikongod]

do ultimate ears cables fit on the ety's?

if they do i'd buy a set too.

my standard ety cable is better at getting tangled on stuff than transmitting elecricity, whihc it does superbly