[aamefford]

This pair of headphones has been a modding learning experience for me. I've installed dynamat and some Parts Express sourced damping material, and some polyester batting.

I started a recable today, and finally quit for a while in frustration. Why does everyone like the Mogami 2893 so much? As far as I know, most headphone cables are unshielded, so why do we mess with the shielded starquad? As far as I've gathered reading here, about as many as not just leave the shielding unconnected anyway?

Why am I frustrated? Well... I was trimming back the shielding, paper tape and strings for the Y split, and managed to cut the clear wire...

Now I either:

Get more Mogami mini, but get the unshielded stuff (comments?) or

Use some of the NavShips wire I have sitting around, I've got SPC in 22 and 24 gauge, I could try my hand at braiding, or

Get some other high purity copper wire, there's something like XLO? that I looked at a while back that was affordable and had a good rep for purity and sound.

For what it's worth, I'm not interested id doing the Jenna or something like that at $5+ per foot, at least not until I get better at this.

Also, any hints on soldering mini plugs? I'm using Neutrik (had to open up the barrel to get the starquad through). I got it done, but it wasn't all that pretty.

I'm interested in methods for insuring the wires don't short in the close quarters in there. Also, do most folks use the barrels supplied, or use something else, and run shrink tube over it instead? I'm thinking hard plastic tubing or something with shrink tube over it instead?

Lastly, any great ideas for strain relief? I've heard the gluegun and zip tie methods - both are reasonable. Does one just put a big glob of hot glue on the wire? Or fill some shrink tube over the wire? The left earcup hole is fairly big. The one I drilled in the right is about right for 2 wires and shrink tube. I'm looking for a method that works well and will be attractive.

Alright, rant over for now, thank you all for any ideas...

*Deleted my rant about the "you should have searched" posts*

Suffice it to say I posted because I wanted to. I invite anyone who'd like to offer help, support, group therapy or whatever to post! If not, just pretend I didn't post...

 

[aamefford]

I'm going for the Navships wire. 24 guage SPC with teflon, and whatever braid I can figure out how to do.

 

[ruZZ.il]

Patience, practice and experience. You'll be looking back at your collection in no time

As for advice, there's so much of it around.. have you got helping hands?

 

[aamefford]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruZZ.il /img/forum/go_quote.gif have you got helping hands?

Thank you! Yes I do have a set (two I think) of helping hands, a nice soldering station, a magnifier visor (I'm north of 50, and my vision is heading far south of 20/20...) and somewhat more than two thumbs... I'll get it though. Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[cms5423]

Please let me know what you think of the navships recable. How does it sound compared to the factory cable?

 

[ruZZ.il]

For me, at least, the navships SPC are a lot clearer, crisper and have better extension than stock cable for my PROLine 650's. The clarity increases the soundstage a bit too. The stock is rather dull in comparison. The copper starquads, btw, have about as much impact/improvement as navships SPC, but in a slightly different direction. Same clarity improvement, but the extension is in the bottom range, with a warmer outcome.

Waiting to hear aameffords opinions too

 

[aamefford]

I'll post results when I get the job done. I have another thread with comparison to the ESW10, and ongoing impressions of mods to the 780, so I'll post there as well. I've got a 4 year old daughter that commands most of my free time. I do have the wire cut into 4 strands, waiting to be braided, the old wire and the diode board pulled, and the drivers marked with with what pad connects to what part of the plug. Next time I get 2 or 3 hours, I should at least have it hooked up for a test listen. I think the eventual final set-up will be either the XLO(?) wire I found a while back, or the mogami again. I just can't get excited about $5+ per foot wire (i.e. Jenna and Cardas). We get LN2 at work once in a while. Maybe I'll do my own cryo treatment next time we have some...

 

[aamefford]

cms5423, I just looked at your signature. You might find some interesting reading here:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/esw...i-780s-420797/

regarding the mods you are doing on your HFI 780. As for the velour pads, they are mandatory for me!

 

[aamefford]

Ok, the Litz braid is done (NavShips SPC, 24 AWG in white teflon). I started with maybe 30ish feet split into 4ths, and ended up with maybe 7 or so feet.

I used the Chimera labs page that is linked all over head-fi (or just type Litz Braid into Google). Note that step 6 or so combines two steps, and is kind of confusing. After much analysis of the pictures, it boils down to:

"left over 1"
"Right over 2"
"Repeat ad. nausea"
"Finish with the wires in the same order you started - i.e. if it was red, blue, white, black at the start, it should be that way at the finish."

I think that last bit is more important for interconnects than headphone cables. In fact, I think the whole braid thing is more important in theory than practice, but I had to do sonething to control all the strands, and the Litz braid seemed a good option.

I still have to decide how I'm going to treat the wires after the Y split, and how I'll do the Y split. Probably I'll use the woven nylon 1/8" for the wires after the Y split, and shrink tube for the Y split itself. I'll either 1/4 or 3/8 nylon for the main body of the cable, whichever it is that I have out in the garage. I'm actually tempted to leave the body in just the white teflon braid, it looks pretty cool. I think I will use the woven nylon though, just for durability. These are my traveling cans. I have a couple of Neutrik mini plugs for termination. Knowing me, it could be a month before I get around to finishing. It just depends on the amount of free time available!

 

[aamefford]

I FINALLY got it done!!!!!

Here's a link to the DIY Cable Gallery with photos, page 303, post #4544:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/diy...ml#post5932552

Here's the link to impressions, so far:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/esw...i-780s-420797/

The quick take - Good, very, very good as a finished product.

 

[ecclesand]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aamefford /img/forum/go_quote.gif I FINALLY got it done!!!!! Here's a link to the DIY Cable Gallery with photos, page 303, post #4544: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/diy...ml#post5932552 Here's the link to impressions, so far: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/esw...i-780s-420797/ The quick take - Good, very, very good as a finished product.

Good Job! I think your recable looks good. I recabled a JVC RX900 with the Navships 24 AWG wire. It was my first attempt at a recable. I didn't do the fancy braid, but instead just twisted each pair together. I then covered it all in nylon multifilament and heatshrink. It worked well and the cable is very flexible. I just recabled my D2000 with the Canare starquad and man that stuff is really easy to work with. I plan to recable a JVC RX700 with the Mogami starquad and see how that turns out.

Doing the recables is fun...at least I think it is. What's not fun is deciding on what wire to use. I have great respect for Alex at Apuresound and other MOTs here with regard to the wire they have developed and use on their recables.

 

[suo]

Nicely done! Now we need some impressions.

 

[aamefford]

Quote:

Originally Posted by suo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Nicely done! Now we need some impressions.

oops, I forgot about this thread!

Final impressions are here:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/esw...ml#post5989802

Note on the Navships SPC Wire recable - It sounds great! But next time, I probably won't use 4 wire strands that are the same color, to many chances to mess up the connection. A bit of labeling and judicious use of the DMM, and it all worked out!