[esz90]

Hey everyone. Completely new to the forums and any diying in any audio related area. I have a pair of Audio Technica m50S headphones that I love but would also like to wear on the go. Unfortunately, the long cable doesn't allow me to do so and I would like a more elegant solution than twist-tying the extra cable. Therefore, I was thinking of replacing the cable with a starquad cable (as has been done before) and also, possibly, a new 3.5mm jack (not sure which one to buy yet... any suggestions would be helpful). Also, if anyone would be able to give me a rundown of the following, it would be greatly appreciated
 
1.) materials needed
2.) soldering techniques
3.) process of opening the monitors
4.) how to unsolder old cable
5.) how to solder new cable
6.) how to mount new plug on starquad cable
 
Finally, would it be possible to install a female 3.5mm jack on the m50s themselves and simply buy replacement male to male cords? Again, I am completely new to all this so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
PS. The cable I'm looking at it
http://www.markertek.com/Cables/Bulk-Wire-Cable/Bulk-Audio-Cable/Canare-Corporation-Of-America/L-4E5C-BK.xhtml

 

[unchain]

That cable is just fine for recabling headphones and is actually pretty popular. The rest of the information you need is on here, just search!
 
How to solder: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+solder
 
M-50 specific things: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ATH-M50+recable
 
Making a 3.5 mm cable: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+make+a+3.5mm+cable
 
ViaBlue, Furutech and Neutrik are all good choices for 3.5mm plugs, depending on what you want to spend.
 
That's not so hard, is it?
 

 

[faileas]

Starquad is a dream to solder, and has some pretty nice qualities for a newbie - it 'sucks' up solder, making it easy to tin. I'd also suggest some heatshrink over each lead on the plug end, and some over the cable as a whole for strain relief .

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/484744/crosstalk-on-audio-technica-m50 this guide is pretty close to what you're aiming to do.