Re-wiring headphones using CAT5/6

I have 3 lots of headphones that need rewired ...one has a mic also.

I've made some intermediate repairs on the existing cables & its crazy light almost to the point of being impossible to work with.

The time has come to completely replace the cables from speaker/mic to jack.

What do you guys think about using stranded cat5/cat6 which is cheap, easy to source & has the required 4-6 cores?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_5_cable

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_6_cable

I have used telephone cable to rewire headphones. (4 conductor, the kind that goes from the wall to the phone.)
Shielding is unnecessary. It's flexible. Easy to work with.

I devote two wires for ground wires. This makes it easy to split the cord under my chin so wires can then go to each earpiece.

Nothing wrong with using ethernet cables, if you need more than 4 wires.
It is more rigid compared to telephone cord. It may be unwieldy having a little 1/8 inch phone plug attached to the end.

However there may be a need for shielding in order for the mic signal to come through.

With stranded wire CAT5 you may be OK but avoid the type with single strands, it will break easily if you flex it too much. As mentioned, be careful with the mic signal, unshielded wires will pick up interference.

Brian.

BradtheRad said:

I have used telephone cable to rewire headphones. (4 conductor, the kind that goes from the wall to the phone.)
Shielding is unnecessary.
However there may be a need for shielding in order for the mic signal to come through.

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betwixt said:

As mentioned, be careful with the mic signal, unshielded wires will pick up interference.

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My understanding of electronics is patchy to say the least, but:

Looking at the thin cables on 2 different mic'd headsets ...they don't seem to have any shielding & the same for the telephone cable you mention.

Why would I need shielding when using CAT5/6 ?
----------------------

I'd rather go with cat5e for the slimmer more durable cable, but assuming I do need some kind of shielding for the mic, will this CAT6 be ok?



8 Core (4 Pair)
SSTP / SFTP PIMF (Pairs in Metal Foil) cable
27AWG stranded core cables allowing repeated flexing without damage, prolonging the life of the cable

For the earphones where the voltage is relatively high and he mpedance relatively low, the chances of interference strong enough to break into the wiires and be audible is very slim. The microphone is quite different though, it will have high impedance and the voltage will be only a few mV. Almost certainly, whatever you are plugged into will have a microphone amplifier in it which not only amplifies the microphone signal but everything picked up on the cable as well.
This is the reason why screening is used on microphone signals, it gives a better ground connection and by physically surrounding the inner signal wire, it shields it from outside influences. Certainly, if you have individually screened pairs in the network cable it will help but whether it screens well enough for audio is debatable, you would have to try it to see. Don't forget that network cable isn't designed for continuous flexing and you might find it either breaks easily or causes electrical noise as its moved because of charges building up on the plastic insulation around the wires.

Brian.

betwixt said:

Don't forget that network cable isn't designed for......

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I'm now reconsidering using network cable.

Another reason for using network cable for headphones was being able to use one of these splitters for under the chin:


& Quality 3.5mm connectors are relatively expensive and heavy ...eg I just paid $6 for an all metal 3.5mm jack plug.

Alternatively, I found some 4-Core individually screened audio cable, but the number of connections involved isn't ideal for audio.

Any idea what this cable type is called? ...it can be split into 2 cables & as you can see in the pic a small block has been put on the wire to stop it splitting any further than necessary. A bit like 'ribbon' cable but not quite.


Ideally, I need something like speaker cable or the cable in the pic above, but with 4 individually screened cores on each side ...if such a thing exists?

It's called "twin-screened" or "figure of 8" cable (because of it's cross sectional shape).

When I have to make up cables lke this I use a 1cm length of heat-shrink sleeving to make the 'block'. Just slide it down the cables to the correct place then heat if with warm air (a hair dryer is ideal for this) until it shrinks and clamps the cables together.

I'm not sure why you need four individually screened wires. For headphones you normally need three unscreened wires which split into two with one wire being common to both sides of the split and one screened cable for the microphone.

Brian.

Thanks for the search term.

betwixt said:

I'm not sure why you need four individually screened wires.

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I thought it would be easier to find is all, rather than some cores being screened & some not.

For headphones you normally need three unscreened wires which split into two with one wire being common to both sides of the split and one screened cable for the microphone.

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Any less than 4 cores mean an extra connection(see right of pic). ..although I still have the problem of how to split the ears/mic under the chin without making a connection of some kind. Triple-screened?

I'm only guessing, but I thought it would be easier to find "twin-screened" with 4 individually screened cores on each side ..as opposed to 4 unscreened cores on one side & only 2 screened cores on the other side.

I don't know which country you are in but I found this which will at least give you some idea of what's available:
look near the bottom of the page.

Ideally you completely screen the microphone 'live' side from all the other wires but it will probably be safe to use the braided shield for the microphone ground and one of the other wires in the bundle for the live side. You will have to make a joint somewhere along the line where the left and right earphones split from the cable but you can bury it under heat shrink sleeving as I described earlier.

Brian.