Picarro
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2011
- Posts
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Hello people
I wrote this guide because I have a pair of the M-Audio Q40 headphones. These ones have developed a rather annoying problem as the small wire connecting the two speakers has been bent out of shape and has broken internally. This means that they only play sound from one side (the one with the jack input plug). I couldn't find a guide to help me so I wrote one myslf. In this guide I will show you how to remedy this problem, and how to exchange the small fragile wire for something a bit more robust. If you have the tools required, it should not cost you more than 5-10$.
Oh, and sorry for the poor quality of the pictures but my DSLR is on its last legs!
Tools required:
In this guide you will need the following tools:
Small soldering iron, preferably adjustable.
Soldering wire
Soldering “wax”
Small Philips head screwdriver
A small pair of tongs
Around 40-50 cm’s of replacement cable. I chose some 2x1.5mm shielded microphone wire.
Wire snippers
And a pair of broken Q40’s.
The guide:
Removing the earpads.
Gently tug on the sides of the earpads until you can see the edge of the molding and then just pull around that to remove the earpads completely.
Remove the two screws on the inside of both sides of the headband. You can use one of the earpads turned upside down to keep track of all the screws and small parts.
It should look something like this:
Gently tug upwards on the headband while pulling down on the small plastic part. It should slide right off the two metal guides.
Now it is time to remove the speakers from the enclosure. Remove the three screws from both speakers and gently tug on them to remove them from the enclosure. Remember, they are attached with a small wire so be gentle!
Use your soldering iron to desolder the two connections in either earcup to release the small connection wire.
After desoldering the cable, gently loosen the knots keeping it in place in the earcups and pull it out.
Use one of the thin metal bands to pull the new wire through. I removed the insulation from the first couple of cm’s and wrapped it through the hole in the end of the band and just pulled it through. Worked like a charm. If it does not work as well for you, try using a bit of liquid soap to lube it up.
Now it simply a matter of pulling the new wire through the holes left by the old wire. If you have chosen a thicker cable (which I recommend you do!) you might need to enlargen the hole a bit. I used a power drill on SLOW and a 3.5mm drill bit, but find something that suits your cable size. Remember to do a knot on the inside of the earcup to keep the cable from tugging on the speaker itself.
Now just resolder the new wire onto the speaker.
Just rinse and repeat for the other side. It might be a good idea to replace the wire coming from the jack plug to the speaker too. Not that it is strictly needed but it should ensure a uniform sound signature.
Now just reassemble the headphones. It should not be too hard if you just take it slow and careful.
You should end up with something like this:
I hope I placed this in the right section.
I wrote this guide because I have a pair of the M-Audio Q40 headphones. These ones have developed a rather annoying problem as the small wire connecting the two speakers has been bent out of shape and has broken internally. This means that they only play sound from one side (the one with the jack input plug). I couldn't find a guide to help me so I wrote one myslf. In this guide I will show you how to remedy this problem, and how to exchange the small fragile wire for something a bit more robust. If you have the tools required, it should not cost you more than 5-10$.
Oh, and sorry for the poor quality of the pictures but my DSLR is on its last legs!
Tools required:
In this guide you will need the following tools:
Small soldering iron, preferably adjustable.
Soldering wire
Soldering “wax”
Small Philips head screwdriver
A small pair of tongs
Around 40-50 cm’s of replacement cable. I chose some 2x1.5mm shielded microphone wire.
Wire snippers
And a pair of broken Q40’s.
The guide:
Removing the earpads.
Gently tug on the sides of the earpads until you can see the edge of the molding and then just pull around that to remove the earpads completely.
Remove the two screws on the inside of both sides of the headband. You can use one of the earpads turned upside down to keep track of all the screws and small parts.
It should look something like this:
Gently tug upwards on the headband while pulling down on the small plastic part. It should slide right off the two metal guides.
Now it is time to remove the speakers from the enclosure. Remove the three screws from both speakers and gently tug on them to remove them from the enclosure. Remember, they are attached with a small wire so be gentle!
Use your soldering iron to desolder the two connections in either earcup to release the small connection wire.
After desoldering the cable, gently loosen the knots keeping it in place in the earcups and pull it out.
Use one of the thin metal bands to pull the new wire through. I removed the insulation from the first couple of cm’s and wrapped it through the hole in the end of the band and just pulled it through. Worked like a charm. If it does not work as well for you, try using a bit of liquid soap to lube it up.
Now it simply a matter of pulling the new wire through the holes left by the old wire. If you have chosen a thicker cable (which I recommend you do!) you might need to enlargen the hole a bit. I used a power drill on SLOW and a 3.5mm drill bit, but find something that suits your cable size. Remember to do a knot on the inside of the earcup to keep the cable from tugging on the speaker itself.
Now just resolder the new wire onto the speaker.
Just rinse and repeat for the other side. It might be a good idea to replace the wire coming from the jack plug to the speaker too. Not that it is strictly needed but it should ensure a uniform sound signature.
Now just reassemble the headphones. It should not be too hard if you just take it slow and careful.
You should end up with something like this:
I hope I placed this in the right section.
