Sennheiser HD 202 detachable cable mod

[derf]

It's been a long while since I came here (the forum software says a year and a half), but I thought I'd share my headphone mod here.

The left side of my Sennheiser HD 202 stopped working a while ago. At first I tought it was the plug, but while playing with the cables, I realized it was the cable going in the earpiece. I thought about replacing the whole cable (I didn't want to shorten it between the Y and the earpiece), so I decided to make a detachable cable instead. Here is how I did it.

1. Remove the pad from the earpiece.
   
2. Remove the four screws and open the earpiece.
   
3. Remove the small metal bracket that olds the cable in place.
   
4. Cut the cable above and below the strain relief.
   
5. Carefully strip the cables.
   
6. Solder the plugs. In my headphones, the red wire is the right signal, the green wire is the left signal and the copper wire is the ground. The wires are coated so they need to be heated for the solder to adhere and make a good contact.
   
7. Screw the nut on the plug with the metal bracket.
   
8. Remove the metal bracket, insert the plug and put the metal bracket back. I had to enlarge the hole with a 1/4" drill bit and I had to file the corners of the plug for it to fit correctly.
   
9. I had to file the bottom of the earpiece for the jack to go in fully.
   
10. Assemble everything and you're done!
    
    
    
    

Total cost of the project: under 2$!
I got the parts from http://www.addison-electronique.com/ (near where I live)

[The DarkSide]

Excellent job!

[IDvsEGO]

nice mod

[WalkGood]

Good work, thanks for sharing

[jupitreas]

Now please get those headphones some new earpads!!!

(seriously though, great job)

[RADo]

Nice Job.

I wanted to make something with some sort-of Locking mechanism, but i failed...

then, no thanks to nokia, i saw how my Good ol' nokia 3510i charger. Its cable had a "Locking mechanism" with the power unit. This is can only work with dual entry because the cable has +and- terminals.

**In the process of finding two similar chargers**

[derf]

After over a year of using my headphones with this mod, I can say that it was a failure. The connectors often got loose and had bad contacts. So yesterday, I got some grommets (pack of 10 for 1$) to put in the enlarged holes, removed the connectors and soldered the wires back.

[kp-j3]

I did briefly get some open back sennheisers with the removable cable, but had to return the immediately because they were way too loud for everyone else.

I'm not sure I get the original appeal of the mod.

[Syndrome]

How did you attach the jacks to the headphones? If you thread the nut on the outside of the plastic then put a bit of super glue on it then it might hold them better.

[derf]

The issue was that the jack would not stay in, it would often pop out. A couple of time I tried to correct the issue, but it didn't work as I would like. The connector in the head phone did not move, it stayed in place.