[mugdecoffee]

I have a pair of sextetts that I'm thinking about recabling but I have a few questions before I do.

First after looking through the DIY cables thread, all the recabling jobs seem to be really thick. I've never had headphones with a thick cable but I'm worried that following suit would make the cable a noticeable weight during use. I also don't like the way the thick cables look so much. Is there maybe some thinner cable than the mogami or star-quad that I should look at? Also, would braiding some navships wire and putting that in techflex or multifiliment work just as well>

Next, the reason I decided on recabling for my next project was because it was cheaper than building a new amp or dac (I have a bantam dac feeding a mhss) and I'm missing some of the detail my DT880's had before I lost them. Would the cost of recabling be better saved for a new pair of headphones or amp?

And a couple of minor quick questions:
Markertek charges $10 for shipping $10 worth of cable. Is there a cheaper source for small lengths?

I like the look/idea of putting a barrel at the y-split. Where do you get those?

EDIT Also how do you tell which terminals are positive and which are negative in the sextetts?

 

[Zorander]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mugdecoffee /img/forum/go_quote.gif First after looking through the DIY cables thread, all the recabling jobs seem to be really thick. I've never had headphones with a thick cable but I'm worried that following suit would make the cable a noticeable weight during use. I also don't like the way the thick cables look so much. Is there maybe some thinner cable than the mogami or star-quad that I should look at? Also, would braiding some navships wire and putting that in techflex or multifiliment work just as well>

The stock cable on the Sextetts is very thin and it is very difficult to do re-cable jobs that can come close to it in size. That said, dual-twisted pairs of 26AWG wires sleeved by 3/16in multi-filament nylon make for very flexible and still light cable. I do this with almost every re-cable job in fact since I strive to achieve weight and flexibility closest to the stock cable. Heavy stiff cables are horrible.



Quote:

Originally Posted by mugdecoffee /img/forum/go_quote.gif I like the look/idea of putting a barrel at the y-split. Where do you get those? EDIT Also how do you tell which terminals are positive and which are negative in the sextetts?

Scrounge the metal barrels from 1/8in mini-plugs. Continuity test with a multi-meter will reliably tell you which terminal is +/-ve.

Cheers!

 

[Good Times]

Navships cable can be very stiff so I wouldn't recommend that. I also wouldn't use a star quad cable because of potential cross-talk, so dual twisted pairs is the way to go if you decide to embark.

 

[Zorander]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Good Times /img/forum/go_quote.gif Navships cable can be very stiff so I wouldn't recommend that. I also wouldn't use a star quad cable because of potential cross-talk, so dual twisted pairs is the way to go if you decide to embark.

What wire size do you have in mind? My experience working with his 24-26AWG wires have been great. The 22AWG wires are pretty bulky (usable but not my preference) with the 18AWG ones being ridiculously stiff and heavy.

Cheers!

 

[v3nom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Good Times /img/forum/go_quote.gif Navships cable can be very stiff so I wouldn't recommend that. I also wouldn't use a star quad cable because of potential cross-talk, so dual twisted pairs is the way to go if you decide to embark.

I got the 24 awg twisted pair of wires nonTeflon non-Kapton and they work perfectly fine with my headphones.

Also if you think mogami or canare quads are too think, you could just strip the shielding (not the wire coating) to get to the 4 core wires then just sleeve them, making them SLIGHTLY larger than the stock cables but most likely weighting the same and you still have the flexibility.

GL

 

[Good Times]

Ah, I haven't tried his thinner gauge wire so perhaps a 24g of his would be fine.

Venom, it's not that the star quad is too stiff or thick, but this cable is designed to carry a mono signal only. So I am suggesting running dual mini quad cables or a thin coax (again, dual).

 

[apatN]

Well if you don't want thick think of getting Mogami 2893 or stripping the tube from Mogami 2534 and covering it with nylon. Should be perfect for your needs and won't be expensive at all.

 

[Zorander]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Good Times /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ah, I haven't tried his thinner gauge wire so perhaps a 24g of his would be fine.

I see where you are coming from then.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Good Times /img/forum/go_quote.gif Venom, it's not that the star quad is too stiff or thick, but this cable is designed to carry a mono signal only

Where did you get this information from? As long as a cable has at least 4 conductor cores (I believe the Canare and Mogami star-quads do), it can transmit stereo signals.

Regards.

 

[Zaubertuba]

What about the Mogami W3106:

Redco Audio

Yeah, the total width would be more than .36", but it'd only be approx. .18" thick.

Looking at the specs on the Mogami site, it looks like the microphonics are less than for their 2534--which makes me think they went with a more "rubbery" jacket--which would handle much more nicely than a lot of mic cable jackets. Anyone try this?

 

[Zaubertuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zorander /img/forum/go_quote.gif I see where you are coming from then. Where did you get this information from? As long as a cable has at least 4 conductor cores (I believe the Canare and Mogami star-quads do), it can transmit stereo signals. Regards.

Well, theoretically, form a basic electrical standpoint, yes, any 4-conductor wire would work, but FWIH it's not recommended:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f21/my...-cable-408346/

EDIT: Sorry about the double-post.

 

[mugdecoffee]

Thanks for all the advise. To satisfy my craving to solder something I reterminated the sextetts with a Pailiccs plug in place of the ratshack one I had on there and the headphones sound infinitely better. I can only hope that recabling will bring more improvement.

Just based on the DIY Cables thread the mogami wire looks quite thick but are those cables mostly done with the 2534 cable? Would the thinner 2893 be much closer to the stock cable size?

Also, if I did go with navships or insulation-stripped 2534, would I need multifilament instead of the cheap ebay techflex to cover the wires?
Mogami 2893

 

[malldian]

A new plug made them sound better?

 

[scootermafia]

To find out which one is which, either look on both sides for the 2 black wires, those tend to be grounds, or desolder then and use a multimeter to see if there's continuity between them and the ground part of the plug.

When I recable stuff I quad braid any kind of wire, stranded is the most flexible but I don't mind a bulky cable, then at the split cover with heatshrink and twist each earcup's wire into a spiral and sleeve with clear heatshrink. You definitely want to label all the wires before soldering, once the wires are soldered to the drivers there's continuity between all 4 wires so you won't know what's what.

 

[Peyotero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Good Times /img/forum/go_quote.gif Navships cable can be very stiff so I wouldn't recommend that. I also wouldn't use a star quad cable because of potential cross-talk, so dual twisted pairs is the way to go if you decide to embark.

Not only dual twisted but also one of the pairs should be reversed. umm.. turned upside down. Hard to describe without pics but what I mean is if lets say salvaged two twisted pairs out of lets say the Canare quad mic cable. Then you get two pairs of twisted wires (blue and white). If you put them close togather you'll notice that in each twist the blue/white wire is going in paralel with the same colour from the other twist. If you turn one of the twisted pairs upside down the wires will go in opposite directions.

It seems to me that you'll reduce any possible crosstalk even further that way.
Basically forget what I said about the colurs ('cause if you use mogami you get 4 different colours). Just make sure that the signal wire from the left channel doesn't "touch" the right signal but the ground instead.

 

[apatN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mugdecoffee /img/forum/go_quote.gif To satisfy my craving to solder something I reterminated the sextetts with a Pailiccs plug in place of the ratshack one I had on there and the headphones sound infinitely better.

Called psycho-acoustics.