quick advice on making ipod dock to 1/8 connector

[el_matt0]

hey all, alright so i decided to take the fall and just purchase a dock connector, 1/8 mini connector, and some silver wire from Qables. i went for their 0.4mm insulated silver wire. my question is...im new to this...i was assuming you would simply solder 1 wire to ground (on both the dock & the 1/8th), 1 to left signal and 1 to right signal, totalling 3. however through looking @ pics and reading some quick things, i see that its possible to do 2 on each totalling 6? do you simply solder 2 wires as opposed to one to each of the posts on each connector? what are the advantages/disadvantages to this? as well, i know some far prefer techflex and some simply like leaving the wires exposed and braiding them...in terms of the braiding, could someone direct me in the right direction if i havent done it b4? depending on what kind of responses i get back, i THINK ill probably go for a 6 wire, 3 seems measley...but i may be wrong. a link to a HOW TO BRAID thread would be great...although im pretty sure one doesnt exist? anyways i hope someone can offer me some advice to get me started in the right direction. i could always braid and then add techflex + heatshrink onTOP if i didnt like the visual appearance of my braid right?

 

[Bones55]

Well, you need to have 4 total at the least. 1 left channel, 1 right channel, and 2 ground. If you wanna up it, 2 R, 2 L, 2 ground. Etc. Adding more wires is purely aesthetic, as far as i know, and does not have a real sonic advantage. The type of wire does to the trained ear, and to an extreme extent, the length o f the wire (would have to be pretty long to notice a change). If you want to add more wires, you can probably twist or solder them together, then solder them to the pin, if you are comfortable working that small. Then connect the pair to the channel on the 1/8th. Depending on the plug you get, you might have to drill/dremel it out to get a larger group of wires to fit.

Techflex is an easy route to go, but you can pretty much google "braiding wire"/ string and find something you like. Found this http://seriss.com/opcs/install/braid.html after 10 secs of google.

 

[el_matt0]

k wait...it seems most people use 4 wire litz for the type of IC im interested in? confused about what the 4 wires would correspond to though...the pics in this thread
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showpo...&postcount=753
are pretty useful, as ive found a good guide on how to 4 wire litz braid.
http://www.chimeralabs.com/diy_braid.html
however, they say the 4 wires = L and R positive and negatives, 2 each. where is my ground and how do i differentiate positive and negative when soldering to my connectors(or is there no need). hopefully someone understands whre my confusion is coming from and im not looking like a total doofus!

 

[el_matt0]

ah ok thanks bones for the advice...seems to make sense based on that chimeralabs tutorial except for...THEY label the 4 wires as left positive, right positive, left negative, and left positive...would i just follow the same BRAIDING instructions but use 2 of them as a ground and 1 to each channel instead? also, what diameter of heatshrink is good for this?

 

[Bones55]

I honestly dont know anything about the effects of brading on SQ, or how it works, but I can advise you head down to your local electronics store / ratshack and pick up a nice variety pack of heatshrink to work with. If you only want to buy one, 1/4 of an inch should do for an over the cable thing, while if you want to put tubing on top of the 1/8 plug, you could go with 1/2 an inch. 1/8 an inch for heat shrinking the pins, although i prefer to use hot glue to make sure they dont move / knock into each other.

 

[fordgtlover]

The OP asked for instructions on an iPod connector to a 1/8 connector. The 1/8 connector has 1 x L, 1x R and 1 x G. That makes 3 wires not 4 at the least. Is there something I'm missing?

As to the question of more wires, electricity takes the shortest path. It will not evenly divide itself across multiple wires. Anything more than one for each connection will add nothing to the effectiveness of the connector.

See my signature for my experience with basically the same thing.

 

[axiom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fordgtlover /img/forum/go_quote.gif As to the question of more wires, electricity takes the shortest path. It will not evenly divide itself across multiple wires.

Electricity will divide itself through multiple connections based on the resistance to those connections, so it doesn't take the shortest path. This is why volume controls work, they divide the voltage to ground and to the rest of the circuit. Electricity favors the path of least resistance, but it also goes to the other provided paths.
Wires do have a small amount of resistance, so this should act like putting resistors in parallel (reducing the resistance for the double connection to about 1/2 that of a single wire).
This probably won't have much of an effect though since wires have very little resistance to start with.
I think it is usual to use the same number of hot and cold connectors, but correct me if I'm wrong

 

[balou]

Quote:

Is there something I'm missing?

If 2 wires are going into the headphone to deliver juice, two wires should also be coming out to bring the stuff back, technically speaking

But yes, it's debatable if 4 wires are needed, 3 will probably be enough, especially if you consider
1. it's going into a high impedance input (amplifier), so very little current is flowing
2. even if you'd be driving headphones directly with this wire, the diameter would probably still be high enough - just compare diy stuff with the flimsy cheapo lineout docks

 

[Bones55]

Quote:

Originally Posted by balou /img/forum/go_quote.gif If 2 wires are going into the headphone to deliver juice, two wires should also be coming out to bring the stuff back, technically speaking But yes, it's debatable if 4 wires are needed, 3 will probably be enough, especially if you consider 1. it's going into a high impedance input (amplifier), so very little current is flowing 2. even if you'd be driving headphones directly with this wire, the diameter would probably still be high enough - just compare diy stuff with the flimsy cheapo lineout docks

Thats what I was told, thank you for clarifying that. I remember reading a thread explaining all of that, but I cant seem to find it.

 

[el_matt0]

alright well, thanks for the help guys...so to clarify, with the 0.4mm silver wire from qables ive chosen, i should be more than fine just doing a simple 3 wire braid 1 for L 1 for R and 1 for ground right? i saw your thread fordgt and ill definitely use it to help me along the way...so from what ive seen most ppl say, using hot glue (glue gun right?) inside the dock connector side after ive soldered the wires to the pins is quite effective in just keeping them in place and stable right? (this wont be visible once the housing of the connector is closed anyways no?)

 

[el_matt0]

ANY1?

 

[fordgtlover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by axiom /img/forum/go_quote.gif Electricity will divide itself through multiple connections based on the resistance to those connections, so it doesn't take the shortest path. This is why volume controls work, they divide the voltage to ground and to the rest of the circuit. Electricity favors the path of least resistance, ...snip

Axiom, my bad, I mis-spoke (mis-typed), I should have stated that it takes the path of least resistance rather than the shortest path. I stand corrected. Although my intended statement was off the mark anyway - things are so much clearer when you think about them.

Contrary to popular belief, electricity takes all paths available — in inverse proportion to the impedance of the paths. The magnitude of the current flowing in a path depends on the path's voltage and impedance. The lower the impedance (assuming voltage remains constant), the greater the current. Conversely, the higher the impedance (assuming voltage remains constant), the lower the current.

Imagine two unequally sized resistors in parallel. The current flowing through one resistor depends on the size of that resistor — not the one next to it. Assuming an infinite power supply, you could add 1000 resistors in parallel and the current in that one resistor wouldn't change.

http://ecmweb.com/mag/electric_path_least_resistance/

 

[Bones55]

To answer your questions, yes, hot glue on the pins will keep them from bridging connections and from breaking off, and no, you wont see it when you glue the two halves together.

 

[el_matt0]

thanx bones, as always