DIY cable and adapter making. Looking for others.

[NYfan2]

Made this one:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...cable-for-sennheiser-hd600-650-6xx-etc.26208/

I also made som XLR interlinks for my SMSL SH-9 and SU-9
Therefor I used Neutrik connectors, and Mogami cable.

For these cables I bought some solder tin with silver, very good solder tin to work with.
I have a Weller soldering Iron with adjustable temperature and I have several size tips so I can change them depending of the parts that need to be soldered.

I have 35 years of experience in this work but just like others already mentioned nowadays a lot of good and affordable cables are om the market so I buy most of the cables that I need, only when I need long high quality cables or just for the fun I make them myself.

 

[Berwhale]

Made this one:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...cable-for-sennheiser-hd600-650-6xx-etc.26208/

I also made som XLR interlinks for my SMSL SH-9 and SU-9
Therefor I used Neutrik connectors, and Mogami cable.

For these cables I bought some solder tin with silver, very good solder tin to work with.
I have a Weller soldering Iron with adjustable temperature and I have several size tips so I can change them depending of the parts that need to be soldered.

I have 35 years of experience in this work but just like others already mentioned nowadays a lot of good and affordable cables are om the market so I buy most of the cables that I need, only when I need long high quality cables or just for the fun I make them myself.

Nice job! I've been tempted to build the same cable, but the XLR HP output on my EX5 isn't actually balanced, so there's no point other than practicing my soldering skills (also, Amazon UK don't appear to be stocking the cheap Sennheiser HD650 cables at the moment)

 

[Berwhale]

Another project: Last year I made some new XLR to TRS cables to connect my EX5 to my Presonus Sub8 (which then connects to my iLoud MTMs via another pair of TRS to TRS cables). I wanted to be able to push the EX5 back closer to the wall so the front of the EX5 lined up with the front of my monitor. The standard XLR plugs were too long, so I built a cable with right angled XLR plugs...

The cable entry on these plugs is very small, so I used heat shrink to step down from the large diameter mic cable.

Plugs used: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B097125HL3?th=1

 

[antcollinet]

The only ones I've made recently have been some RCA to T(r)S adapters, for my MiniDSP balanced.

I did so by buying some standared RCA Cables, cutting off one end, and soldering on some TS connectors (for an analogue input to balanced TRS, so the TS Connector works - don't do this for analogue outputs folks)

I also made some adapters for the analogue output using TRS connectors.

 

[staticV3]

Soldering stations

I think the pinecil v2 offers unbeatable value at 88W for just $30 (w/o power supply).

use

Tin wires before soldering to contacts
use high heat (330-370°C) but short and precise contact with the iron
A little bit of tin on the tip of your iron will improve heat transfer
A solder iron tip with high thermal mass will help a lot with getting XLR pins up to temperature (or anything else that's large)
Heat the contact on your plug sufficiently for proper adhesion. If you heat up just the tin, the connection will be brittle/unreliable.
Solder pots are nice, but not really needed for Mogami, Sommer etc. Just the iron is enough.

Discussions about bulk cable.

I like Mogami.

Use of multimeters and cable testers

For cable impedance, the YR1035 is nice.

 

[sergeauckland]

For testing cables, I've been using this for the past 12 years. Maybe not so necessary when making up a few cables, but saves a lot of time when having to test tens or hundreds of connections. Most useful thing is the intermittent test. Checks phantom power and also works as a line level and mic level signal generator for testing cables you can only get to one end of. For under £25, I wouldn't be without it.

S

 

[NYfan2]

Nice job! I've been tempted to build the same cable, but the XLR HP output on my EX5 isn't actually balanced, so there's no point other than practicing my soldering skills (also, Amazon UK don't appear to be stocking the cheap Sennheiser HD650 cables at the moment)

I bought the Stock Sennheiser cable directly at Sennheiser, no schipping costs and cheaper then anywhere else, also the HD650 cable is cheaper then the HD600 cable.
It's a bit of a search on the Sennheiser site but Sennheiser sells all the spare parts directly.

 

[DonDish]

I think the pinecil v2 offers unbeatable value at 88W for just $30 (w/o power supply).

Tin wires before soldering to contacts
use high heat (330-370°C) but short and precise contact with the iron
A little bit of tin on the tip of your iron will improve heat transfer
A solder iron tip with high thermal mass will help a lot with getting XLR pins up to temperature (or anything else that's large)
Heat the contact on your plug sufficiently for proper adhesion. If you heat up just the tin, the connection will be brittle/unreliable.
Solder pots are nice, but not really needed for Mogami, Sommer etc. Just the iron is enough.

I like Mogami.

For cable impedance, the YR1035 is nice.

Thnx for advice. I have done some soldering. brittle/unreliable Alot of my HPs went to trash over the years for this. Solders hold for max a couple of days, tops a week. I just gave up on it. These where most sub €150 AKG´s, a favourite back then.

A solder iron tip with high thermal mass will help a lot with getting XLR pins up to temperature (or anything else that's large)
My weller station has, for now, a pecil type tip. Ideally, what you are suggesting is a fatter tip. Something like those cheaper irons usually come with? There is a flat screwdriver type tip for my weller. Looks like Im gonna have to order something bigger.

Solder pots are nice, but not really needed for Mogami, Sommer etc. Just the iron is enough.
Clean copper is ok to tin. I think the solder pot advice was for laquered wire. I found a solder pot on the net which is like a solder iron with a cup to it. €190. The others are quite expensive like €500. I could just buy readymade cabling for that. The lowpriced solder cup goes to 300c the expensives to 450c. If I ever reach some level of advanced with this, I will get this and a hot air gun(not the hairdryer type but the solder type )

I got a bunch of different Sommer cable. I order from Thomann, not very expensive. They mostly got Sommer. No Mogami. I found a nice mic cable which is thin like HP cable, I will save that for some HP fixing.

For cable impedance, the YR1035 is nice.
@HarmonicTHD said testing that cable conduct is enough. Why is impedance important, it follows cable and connector specification, can it tell something about the weld quality.

 

[DonDish]

I bought the Stock Sennheiser cable directly at Sennheiser, no schipping costs and cheaper then anywhere else, also the HD650 cable is cheaper then the HD600 cable.
It's a bit of a search on the Sennheiser site but Sennheiser sells all the spare parts directly.

I been watching HD650 cable at Thomann. When they got restock I ordered two for €12 each. Next day stock was empty. The more expensive HD600 cable got some bad rep for DIY, ppl complain about quality. HD650 cable is the better, my impression after reading up on this.

 

[DonDish]

For testing cables, I've been using this for the past 12 years. Maybe not so necessary when making up a few cables, but saves a lot of time when having to test tens or hundreds of connections. Most useful thing is the intermittent test. Checks phantom power and also works as a line level and mic level signal generator for testing cables you can only get to one end of. For under £25, I wouldn't be without it.

View attachment 229858

S

This looks nice. There are alot of cable testers and they are generally not expensive. Dozy me should have get one when I ordered the other stuff.

 

[staticV3]

can it tell something about the weld quality.

Yes. If the impedance/resistance is unexpectedly high considering the plug and wire used for the cable, then you did a poor job soldering them together.

 

[DonDish]

Made this one:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...cable-for-sennheiser-hd600-650-6xx-etc.26208/

I also made som XLR interlinks for my SMSL SH-9 and SU-9
Therefor I used Neutrik connectors, and Mogami cable.

For these cables I bought some solder tin with silver, very good solder tin to work with.
I have a Weller soldering Iron with adjustable temperature and I have several size tips so I can change them depending of the parts that need to be soldered.

I have 35 years of experience in this work but just like others already mentioned nowadays a lot of good and affordable cables are om the market so I buy most of the cables that I need, only when I need long high quality cables or just for the fun I make them myself.

That is exactly the cable im going for. In your ASR link. With the method you describe, do you apply solder directly to laqured wire. No scraping or burning it off first?

What is your favourite tip for a good heat transfer to solder contacts. I have a Weller we1010 station.

"..or just for the fun I make them myself."
This is most important for me, but im mostly frustrated now

 

[DonDish]

Yes. If the impedance/resistance is unexpectedly high considering the plug and wire used for the cable, then you did a poor job soldering them together.

Thnx! This was the answer I was looking for in my entry post about multimeter testing.

 

[DonDish]

I did a test with the waste end of hd650. With this i measured best 0.1 ohm at ring and scale. Iron 350c mounted in vice. Just pulled wire through drop of tin til it stuck. Thoghts on this?

 

[DonDish]

tinned up close

 

[gnarly]

Hakko soldering stations get a lot of love on prosound forums, where cable failures mean loss of reputation (worse than loss of signal!)

https://www.tequipment.net/hakko/soldering-equipment-1/soldering-stations/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw6_CYBhDjARIsABnuSzpLtwxjWzVl3jmjRx1GMZWidHlglAYlX4JL3Lp16_vvYArMAqPt2KgaAnYoEALw_wcB

 

[NYfan2]

That is exactly the cable im going for. In your ASR link. With the method you describe, do you apply solder directly to laqured wire. No scraping or burning it off first?

What is your favourite tip for a good heat transfer to solder contacts. I have a Weller we1010 station.

"..or just for the fun I make them myself."
This is most important for me, but im mostly frustrated now

I heat the wires with the soldering iron to melt the isolation and apply a little solder tin untill the tin is flowing onto the wires, then I know the isolation is gone. Burning is also possible but scraping doesn't really work.

 

[DonDish]

I heat the wires with the soldering iron to melt the isolation and apply a little solder tin untill the tin is flowing onto the wires, then I know the isolation is gone. Burning is also possible but scraping doesn't really work.

I read your post and also took to YT. Used the vice trick and 390c. Goes like a charm. Im done now and about to post a picture. Tomorrow whole story. Night in Norway now 1 sec ill post

 

[DonDish]

Up and running. If I go past -30, my head will expolde. I will post blog and pictures tomorrow.

 

[DonDish]

I put a DIY blog in a separate topic. The blog is 95% done so have a look. Including HD650 cable mod and adapter. Its not only my first real solder project, but also my first blog so opinions appreciated

ADI-2 PRO balanced adapter and HD650 balanced cable mod

I bought the ADI-2 PRO fs r be a couple of months ago, going from an ADI-2 DAC fs. The heftier PRO model gives alot of new functionality over its little brother. One option is to drive your headphones in a balanced fashion via two quarter inch TRS connectors. Im not going to dig into RME...

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