[radu]

Hello, I own a pair of Pk2's that are broken at the headphone plug end.  I have read about reterminating headphones and decided to give it a shot.  I am using a stereo plug I purchased from Radioshack. 
 
So far I have been able to strip the wires and connect them to the new plug, however I can only get sound sometimes, and only if I wiggle the wires around and hold them.
 
There is a blue and red wire, then next to each of these is what I assume is a ground wire.  I have two grounds (one from each side) do these need to be connected together and then sodered to the ground connection?  Or does each ground need to go to the side that it runs through (right/left)? 
 
I have tried a couple configurations, but nothing seems to give me  a solid connection. 
 
I have also read that I need to apply a bit of heat to the colored wires to burn off the coating, is this true?
 
Anyone have expierence reterminating these earbuds?  Am I missing something?  Any advice?  If needed I can post pictures, Thanks in advance!
 
 
 
 

 

[pistolsnipe]

these wires have enamel on them, you need to melt off the enamel (i melt enamel by just holding the wires in a solder blob) and solder everything together

 

[radu]

Thanks for the reply pistol, I've burned off the enamel and have hooked everything up using the screws (i dont want to soder until I know everything is wired correctly), however I still cannot get a solid signal.   I get sound out of the right earbud, and only if i wiggle the wires around do I get sound out of both. 
 
Can the wires be touching each other in the plug?  Or will that mess up the connection?  Also does anyone know about the 2 ground wires?  Do these need to be together on the ground connector or do they go on each side (Right/Left)? 
 
I have a feeling i'm close to getting this to work but for some reason the connection is not solid...
 

 

[pistolsnipe]

it has been a while since i re-terminated my pk3, but if there are 4 wires like i think there are, the 2 yellow ones both go to sleeve/gnd, red goes to right/ring blue to left/tip

 

[faileas]

Sounds like a bad connection- if there's sound chances are at least some of the coating on the wire's are off, but wiggling it makes and breaks the connection.
 
IMO the trick to a good retermination job is a microtorch - its basically a ciggie lighter on steroids. It'll burn off the enamel easily.
 
You don't want bare left and right, or the two 'earth' wires touching the signal wires - you can use a continuity checker on the left and right connections- i tend to slip a little heatshrink over each terminal on the jack-plug and some over the whole thing with metal jacks. Insulation never hurt anyone