fixing Sony Headphones

[Min Lee]

I have a buncha sony mdr-v6 (the cheaper version of the sony 7509). One with a broken tip and one with a broken right side. I thought I can salvage them by swapping the wires, I stripped the wires and twisted the matching color coded wires together but got no sound. I know they're cheap to replace but I like to learn how to fix this since it seems to be an ongoing problem. I can solder it but I want to make sure I have things connected right first. Can someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong? Thanks.

[Edward Carlson]

You can't just twist the colored wires together. The color on the wires is enamel, and it's an insulator. You need to get rid of the enamel first. You can do this by melting it away with a blob of solder on a large iron tip.

[Greg Miller]

GC Electronics used to make a product called "Strip-X" that would dissolve the enamel insulation on magnet wire, transformer windings, inductors, etc. It worked much better than heat or abrasion. Alas, it's been off the market for several years, as far as I can determine.

I imagine it was mostly methyl chloride, which is used in a lot of commercial paint strippers. If you have to do this often, you might experiment a bit... "better living through chemistry." But methyl chloride, tolulene, all those strong solvents are fairly dangerous in one way or another, so be careful when using them.

[Rick Reineke]

Edward is correct, the enamel must be removed one way or another before a contact can be made. The V6 and 7506 are almost identical, inside and out. I have both, FWIW, my original model V6 lasted longer than my 1st set of 7506.. (On my fifth 7506 set at this point.. Lots of run-and-gun ENG audio.. I keep the broken ones for spare parts.)
I have a parts list and wiring photos if anyone needs em.

[Dan Asseff]

My question is how hard would it be to shorten the wire for my 7509 for video work. I have always hated the long coiled wire bouncing all over the place when filming. Thanks

Dan

[Andrew Hughes]

I tried to fix a pair of Sony's a while back and found removing the enamel properly to be a real pain in the butt--I tried to scrape it off, which I read somewhere would work. It didn't work very well and I ended up spending the $50 or so for the replacement cord that came with the ends pre-stripped and ready for soldering.

If you wanted a shorter cord, there's nothing stopping you from just removing the sony cord and adding a shorter one. This would be a lot easier than trying to shorten the sony cord.

[Min Lee]

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions. Special thanks to Edward, I did what you suggested and heat the enamel. It took a little while but it worked fine. I just hope it holds up. Now I'm going to try to make a detachable cable for another pair.

[Edward Carlson]

That was my plan too. I'm planning on getting an old pair from eBay to test this with. I'm going to drill out the hole where the cable enters the housing and replace it with a mini XLR. I'm also planning on ditching the coil cord and replacing it with a straight Canare L-2E5 or L-2B2AT cable

[Dan Ostroff]

Originally Posted by Dan Asseff

My question is how hard would it be to shorten the wire for my 7509 for video work. I have always hated the long coiled wire bouncing all over the place when filming. Thanks

Dan

Here you go, shortening the 7506 cable....

Sony 7506 Headphones | Long Cable Solution - YouTube

[Greg Miller]

I would love to find a source for good headphone replacement cables.

I would especially like to find headset cables. I'd want four unshielded wires for the cans, plus one well shielded conductor for the mic, with cans terminating in one 3.5mm stereo, and mic terminating in another 3.5mm stereo. It would probably cost more than a new headset. :-(

[Dan Asseff]

Dan,
Thanks that worked pretty well, instead of having to cut the cord.

Dan