[Irregular Joe]

I found some old headphones the other day: A pair of Philips N6325's. I really want to test this baby out, but unfortunately, the plug output is a 5-pin "domino" DIN, and my limited knowledge gives me little guidence on what to do.

I understand that these plugs were used in Europe a while back, and I can't find any adapters out there on the web. I read that the N6325 was made from 1978 to 1982 or something like that, but that's pretty much all I know about it, besides my mom's vague recollections.

Does anyone have any idea where one could find a proper adapter for listening to these headphones? Or, do you know if the effort would even be worth it? They appear to be in very good shape; I would hate to have to just junk it.

Specs taken from the original box:

Frequency Range: 20-22.000 Hz
Impedance: 1.000 Ohm at 500 Hz
Sensitivity: 104 dB SPL at 500 Hz and 1 V (^= 1 mW)
Input Voltage: min. 0.5 V; max. 4 V

Any help is much appreciated!

PS: I opened up that box attached to the cord. It appears to be a device designed for converting a 3-wire connection (from the earcup to the box) to a 4-wire connection (from the box to the 5-pin domino DIN). I'll post pictures of this soon.

 

[wualta]

I've got one of these on its way via a slow boat from England. It's got a normal quarter-inch phone plug. Are the wires color coded? We should be able to match 'em up.

Frankly, I'd never heard of this 'phone until a few weeks ago. I'm surprised to see another one so soon.

 

[tyre]

Digikey and Allied Electronics carry a lot of DIN connectors that might match up to your headphone's connector. Even if you can't find the exact connector, it's might work to modify one that's "close enough". For example, if the headphones only use the 4 outer connectors, you could use a 4-pin DIN receptacle instead and just drill out a center hole.

http://www.alliedelec.com/Search/Pro...&IND=T&SEARCH=

Does the box that the headphones came in have any other info about how to hook the headphones up? Also, do you have a picture of the internals of that converter box?

1000 ohms is a pretty high impedance. I assume that the step-up transformers are inside the headphone's earcups?

 

[Tachikoma]

1000 ohms? This is an electrostatic, right? Maybe it will work with a stax energizer or something.

 

[Lisa]

I've got an even older Philips headphone with the same plug. Was a pity I couldn't try it with my current gear. But my mom's still using a 30+ yrs old receiver so I could try it with that. Sounded crappy though.

 

[sgrossklass]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tachikoma 1000 ohms? This is an electrostatic, right? Maybe it will work with a stax energizer or something.

Electret isn't quite the same, I think you don't need any bias voltage for this kind of stuff.

As for the connector, this is commonly referred to as a "Würfelstecker" ('cubic plug', because of the pin arrangement) here in .de. Hmm, I can only find an adapter in the opposite direction (to 1/4" female) at Conrad now. One could always still remove the wires from the adapter box and solder a normal quarter inch plug onto them, as long as a multimeter is present this shouldn't be hard (resistance from one channel to the other should be ~2 kOhm, from either to ground ~1 kOhm, and to identify left and right the voltage from the ohmmeter should be sufficient to generate a slight crackle when applied).

 

[Irregular Joe]

Here are the promised images:

I threw in a picture of the box, as well:

Thank you for all of your helpful replies. Unfortunately, I don't know crap about headphones, so a lot of your efforts may have gone wasted.

wualta - The white plastic coverings over the wire hookups are pretty stiff, so I don't want to risk pulling them away to check if they are colour-coded. However, if an adapter cannot be found, then this is probably the first thing that I'd be willing to do.
Also - that's pretty neat that you will soon have the same phones. I thought I was alone as well

sgrossklass, Tachikoma, and tyre - I have no idea about the ohm reading. I wouldn't know whether it was electrostatic or not; also, I don't know about the step-up transformers.

tyre - Thanks for that link. Would you know which one of the 5 pins is not necessary? I find it hard to believe that you wouldn't need all 5 pins to be connected for the phones to work. Although, I guess it would make sense, seeing as there is only 4 insulated wires going into the plug.
Hmm... looking at those pins closer, I notice that the pins aren't aligned perpendicular to each other, in a square. I've done some research earlier and found out that there are 180 and 240 degree arrangements for the 5-pin DIN, as well. I haven't found much in the aforementioned style.

sgrossklass - Thanks for the additional information about the connector. This should make searching for an adapter a little easier (hopefully).

Lisa - That would be great if you could give it a try for me; let me know how that goes if you get around to it.
When you say that it sounded crappy, do you mean your mom's system? Or, did you try the phones out themselves earlier and find that the sound quality wasn't good?

 

[Irregular Joe]

I found a couple of pics at http://www.fdl-web.de/wuerfel.htm . Maybe I can use this if I go the wiring/soldering method.

This one is supposed to be mono.

This one is supposed to be stereo.

EDIT: While I don't know anything about electrical drawings, there appears be no lines (current?) traveling to or from "pin 1" (the centre one). If this is the case, then I guess tyre was right. Sorry for doubting you.

EDIT 2: The important thing is that an adapter does indeed exist, if only in drawing form.

 

[Lisa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Irregular Joe Lisa - That would be great if you could give it a try for me; let me know how that goes if you get around to it. When you say that it sounded crappy, do you mean your mom's system? Or, did you try the phones out themselves earlier and find that the sound quality wasn't good?

Oops sorry. What I said could have been interpreted in different ways. What I said is that I found a pair of old Philips headphones with the same plug. And I ended up listening to them on my moms 30+ years old receiver. And it sounded bad. But it's a completely different model and I have no way of knowing if it's the headphones or the receiver that made it sound bad. And of course no clue what your pair sounds like.

My post was kind of useless to you. I just said that I know what it's like to find a really old pair of headphones and not being able to try them on your system because of the plug.

 

[wualta]

Just for the record, yes, it is an electrostatic headphone. It uses an electret for the diaphragm and thus doesn't require an external bias voltage.

Nice shot of the little inline transformer box! Now we know they didn't put 'em in the earcups, and thank goodness they didn't.

When mine arrive, I'll give 'em the old Head-Fi Ruthless Evaluation and report back here. They may not be worth all the effort to plug them into good equipment.

 

[Irregular Joe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisa Oops sorry. What I said could have been interpreted in different ways. What I said is that I found a pair of old Philips headphones with the same plug. And I ended up listening to them on my moms 30+ years old receiver. And it sounded bad. But it's a completely different model and I have no way of knowing if it's the headphones or the receiver that made it sound bad. And of course no clue what your pair sounds like. My post was kind of useless to you. I just said that I know what it's like to find a really old pair of headphones and not being able to try them on your system because of the plug.

Thanks for the clarification. Reading it again, what you meant does make sense. Here's to hoping mine have a little better luck than yours.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wualta Just for the record, yes, it is an electrostatic headphone. It uses an electret for the diaphragm and thus doesn't require an external bias voltage. Nice shot of the little inline transformer box! Now we know they didn't put 'em in the earcups, and thank goodness they didn't. When mine arrive, I'll give 'em the old Head-Fi Ruthless Evaluation and report back here. They may not be worth all the effort to plug them into good equipment.

That would be great if you could do that; I really hope it's worth it. Let me know how it turns out!

 

[Irregular Joe]

EDIT: Accidental Double Post

 

[lini]

Are you looking for one of these: http://www.reichelt.de/index.html?AR...N=3;GRUPPE=I32 ?

Greetings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini

 

[Irregular Joe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lini Are you looking for one of these: http://www.reichelt.de/index.html?AR...N=3;GRUPPE=I32 ? Greetings from Hannover! Manfred / lini

That's awesome, lini! That's exactly what I'm looking for. It's a little hard to tell in the picture if it's the "Domino" ("Würfelstecker") DIN, though. Can anyone make it out?

I wish I could read German. I can't tell whether or not these have male or female 5-pin DINs:

Site 1
Site 2

 

[sgrossklass]

It says 'domino' female in the description, and the picture correlates with the adapter I have on my HD424, so I'd strongly assume it is what you need.