How-to: Change your headphone's minijack! (now w/videos)

[coghlan]

My father-in-law retired from Siemens components division, and he has lots of experience with these tiny, lacquer-coated wires on various transformer windings etc. I asked him what the best way to remove the lacquer was, and he said just to melt/burn it off with flux-core solder (he says it's called Californium in the biz). I just tried it (tinned the ends to melt it away), and my headphones seem to work fine after soldering them on (although I think I'm going to change to a right-angle connector...if I can find one).

[CrowdAds]

[dfkt]

Yep, burning the stuff is the best way.

For a right angled connector this is one of the best you can get: http://www.markertek.com/SearchProdu...ik&pagesize=20

[coghlan]

A couple of people recommended these, so I ordered a couple of the plastic jobbies last night. Thanks.

[coghlan]

BTW, the soldering instructions they give on their website show the wires going straight into the plug. This doesn't work very well if they've been tinned (I don't know who could solder the way they show in the figure, with the insulation going right to the tab and just a bit of wire going through the hole. It took me a number of tries to figure this out, and I found it's just best to come in with tinned wires from the side, oriented the way it would be when covered by the plastic shell.

Also, be careful not to pool any solder under the common tab, as the plastic shell won't fit over it.

[adar]

So I just replaced the plug on my headphones. Made a fairly careful job of it, testing at various times to make sure my connections actually resulted in sound in both earphones.
Imagine my surprise when I later discovered that i was getting the same sound in each earphone. Not right or left sound either; the sound from the L and R channels plays in each ear.
How can I fix this? How is this even possible? I don't know much about electronics, but what I do know suggests that crossed wires and such would only create no sound at all.
For reference, I'm using a neutrik NTP3RC right-angle plug.
Thanks for your help!

[3UNKNOWN3]

Very good and detailed guide. I am wondering if anyone knows what the wires are like for Denon AH-C700. My headphone plug just lost the right ear connection and I don't want to strip the wires off and risk finding out I have painted wires. My headphones have two mono wires running down in parallel. Again, wonderful guide and thanks for your help.

Edit: Just took the risk anyway. Saw painted wires. Simply burn them over an open flame and screw/solder them on to the new plug. Works fine.

[jjrosaria]

I would just like to add something up. My dad sucesfully change the jack of his sony mdr ex 85 earphones when it loss its other channel. You just have to submerge the wire to a paint thinner to get rid of the paint.

[JunglePimp]

I live in India, so I don't have any of those stored you mentioned about. Also, I checked out on ebay.in, no such jack was available.
Can you please link me to some web store so i can have it imported ?

I have ep-830 headphones and due to pulling from the end, I can only hear stuff in one bud. The other one gets sound only if I shake or hold in a certain way.

Is there any way i can get the thing done using the jack of some other headphone, or even the same headphone, by opening it and reassembling or soldering the wires?

[hyper_noodle]

I have a couple questions:

Is this something that's suggested to do in any case, or only when you notice there might be a connection problem with your headphones after some use and NEED to replace the connector?

Also, I just bought the Phonak PFEs. Does anyone happen to know if those will have the painted-on insulation?

[mbamg]

I have a pair of Sony MDR-EX32 earphones, and for some reason the right earbud became really, really quiet compared to the left one day. I'm thinking of replacing the jack, but first I need to ask something: is the problem even related to the jack or is it some other problem?

Also, the Sony has only one wire. Can anyone help me with that?

I already ordered a pair of Sennheiser CX300s but I really cherish those Sonys so any help will be greatly appreciated.

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by mbamg

I have a pair of Sony MDR-EX32 earphones, and for some reason the right earbud became really, really quiet compared to the left one day. I'm thinking of replacing the jack, but first I need to ask something: is the problem even related to the jack or is it some other problem?

Plug them into another player, to check if the fault isn't at your player's headphone jack.

Other than that, the problem could very likely be at the Y-joint in the cable, or directly at the earbud. So changing the jack might not do any good. Wiggle the cable around a bit while listening to music, to check where the fault in the cable actually is.

Did you clean the earbud? There might be some dirt in the nozzle that makes it quieter...

Originally Posted by mbamg

Also, the Sony has only one wire. Can anyone help me with that?

Inside the cable you will find three wires. The clear one is usually ground, the red one is the right channel, and the other color (usually green or blue) is the left channel.

Originally Posted by mbamg

I already ordered a pair of Sennheiser CX300s but I really cherish those Sonys so any help will be greatly appreciated.

The CX300 should be way better than the Sonys, both in sound and build quality. The EX32 are just disposable, like any other Sony product in that price range.

[ultrauber]

Originally Posted by adar

So I just replaced the plug on my headphones. Made a fairly careful job of it, testing at various times to make sure my connections actually resulted in sound in both earphones.
Imagine my surprise when I later discovered that i was getting the same sound in each earphone. Not right or left sound either; the sound from the L and R channels plays in each ear.
How can I fix this? How is this even possible? I don't know much about electronics, but what I do know suggests that crossed wires and such would only create no sound at all.
For reference, I'm using a neutrik NTP3RC right-angle plug.
Thanks for your help!

If the right and left channels are touching, either the wires or the tabs that you solder them to, then the sound will come out mono, like you reported. I would unscrew the cap and double check that you cleanly soldered them and there are no wires touching. You can also put a small bit of electrical tape between the tabs so that no electricity will cross between them.
Your thinking that crossed wires would cause no sound at all is somewhat correct: if, say, the right channel is touching the ground, then the right channel will be silent or staticky. If all three are touching, you'll have a similar effect on both ears. Hope this helps.

[crooks]

If anyone is still looking for Neutric plugs I found they were cheapest (at least to get shipped to Canada) from this ebay store based out of the UK called audio-spares. http://cgi.ebay.ca/Neutrik-NTP3RC-Ti...item56369f88a8

[Lord92]

hi, i Just got an neutrik right angle plug, becouse the plug at my Sennheiser PMX 60 is broken, does anybody know which kable (blue/red) is right and which one is right?

BTW: where at the neutrik plug is the connection for right/left

[dfkt]

Red is usually the right channel.

[Lord92]

and which of the connections at the neutrik plug is for the right?

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by Lord92

and which of the connections at the neutrik plug is for the right?

Did you read the 1st post?

Edit: this may help you too http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS_con...ve_terminology

[aki]

Red is Right
I have a silver connector on my Sennheiser PMX100's, installed by a radiostore, but it sucks because I have to wiggle the cable around to get the right channel working as well, seems the cable has been badly connected?

Should I bother buying a neutrik connector or doesn't it make any difference at all, I have some pics, I can't post them now but if they can be useful i post them?

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by aki

Red is Right
I have a silver connector on my Sennheiser PMX100's, installed by a radiostore, but it sucks because I have to wiggle the cable around to get the right channel working as well, seems the cable has been badly connected?

Should I bother buying a neutrik connector or doesn't it make any difference at all, I have some pics, I can't post them now but if they can be useful i post them?

It's always nice to go new and they're not really expensive

[Lord92]

just repaired my sennheiser pmx60's , soldering wasn't this easy but it works