OT: Headphone jack gets only mono

[micky]

Yes, only 5 solder connection points. That will make all those drawings and tables easier to make, and probably make it cheaper if one has someone else repair it.

Sorry

[micky]

Reread this.

I thought you said that. Too many posts to go check what I red that way.

What I said was that they turn off when the headphones are plugged in, NOT unplugged.

No. This is the first time you've said this. It means I was right in my previous post. The speakers are off until you unplug the headphones, then becaues you had the volume all the way up, the speakers blast.

I've lost track of the details of this thrad, but I think this means there is something wrong with both channels, somewhere. The likely source of problems is alway the mechanical parts, in this case the plug or the jack, or any mechanical volume control. Any volume or balance control with a knob or a slider, as opposed to a push button to increase volume and another to decrease.

But below it's clear that it's the jack, but it might be both channels of the jack.

Micky

[None]

The OP lost track somewhere in the first two or three posts, if not before the thread even began.

The OP has been so incoherent, and so self-contradictory, that nothing is clear and nothing has been established.

[Robert Green]

Micky, Micky, Micky. Do you think that anyone with the skills to repair said jack is going to need technical input from HB? (-: I doubt it, so the discussion of tangs, prongs, tips, rings, etc. isn't likely to be very useful in solving the problem. But it *is* very likely to confuse the living heck out of someone that's not technically inclined.

That's why I've been pushing the external headphone amp solution. It's clear that the TV sound signal makes it through to the Harmon Kardon and the speakers correctly. For me, that is pretty much conclusive evidence that the HK needs to be bypassed because internally, the signal is NOT making it to both sides of the headphones - for whatever reason.

Did HB miss something testing out all the interconnections? It's possible, we all do at some time or another. Hell, I've gotten shocked because the plug I unplugged from the workbench power strip didn't actually belong to the unit I was testing. It's the nature of the beast. Shi+ happens.

The overarching concern here (IMO) is to get stereo sounds from the TV to the headphones once again. That becomes a question of what's cheapest and easiest? While I might be tempted to try to fix the HK that's not really an option for someone with no electronics skills. That's why I so stronly feel a small, cheap secondary amplifier to power the headphones is the best course. Especially when compared to a repair of an as-yet undiagnosed problem with the HK's headphone jack. The jack could have mechanical damage or there could be a problem with any part of the circuitry that feeds the audio signal to the headphone.

On some units the speakers are silenced when a headphone plug is inserted. On most of the Sony units I have, the switching is done by a knob and on one very high-priced Sony unit it's accomplished by relay switching so that the speakers can be switched from A or B to A&B or to headphones via the remote. I believe that some Sony receivers power the headphones all the time and others only when the switch is set on "headphones." I mention that just to illustrate we really don't have a lot of information about how this particular receiver handles headphone output - as Greg mentioned it could be done more than one way internally.

So we just don't know *what's* wrong with the HK headphone output. And we DO know that HB doesn't have the tools or expertise required to pop the case off and do signal tracing. For any stereo repair place I know of, just cracking the case is going to cost at least $25, maybe more.

That makes bypassing the (most likely) bad jack on the receiver attractive if it can be done for around the same price, especially because that's a closed-end cost estimate. On the other hand, with the open-ended repair, there's no telling how much the repair could cost if it turns out that it's some circuit issue and not just a physically bad jack. In the long run, a small headphone amp will save money on electricity too, since she doesn't have to run the HK when she wants to listen to TV via the headphones. Sounds like a win-win to me.

[Robert Green]

Harmon Kardon's "Audio IN" will likely be female. TV's "Audio OUT" will likely be female. Headphone amplifier inputs will likely be female. Three male ends on the splitter cable will perfectly mate with three female inputs on each of the units we're trying to join. Considering that virtually no one's posted any illustrations of the technical details of what they're discussing I don't think illustrating what a generic splitter (that can have several configurations) looks like is worth of a nit-pick, but that's your choice.

Now if the splitter cables aren't long enough that might complicate things, but that would be exactly what we're NOT trying to do here, make things more complicated than they already are. We're not even sure at this point if HB needs to use the HK's speakers, but it's probably a good idea to make sure she can if she wants to.

Unless the TV has two sets of line level audio outputs, then a splitter's going to be required. I suspect the gender of splitter cables isn't going to be a serious problem for the person that connected HB's TV to her stereo in the first place and will likely be connecting the auxiliary headphone amp for her, should she choose that route.

[Robert Green]

It all depends on the design of the jack. If the plug is held securely only at the area of the mounting nut (as most are), then a pull on the cord in one direction will cause the plug body and tip to move in the opposite direction. While most damage is likely to affect the cord entering the plug, a cord with a strong enough strain relief could cause internal damage to the jack. But that really doesn't matter too much. I think we're pretty sure that her headphones work elsewhere but NOT in the HK. So the question is what path to reactivating the headphones is the easiest and cheapest, not divagating around headphone theory in general.

That's ot-nay oo-tay right-bay because you may damage the cord enough to cause a potential arc fault and not know it until you plug the item in again and the house burns down. It's very good advice to pull plugs out by the head, not the tail because damage done may not be immediately obvious and could be very dangerous.

No doubt.

Here's an ASCII illustration of what I was talking about above. The jack mounting sleeve acts as a lever that causes the tip to move into the internals of the jack.

Plug tip \ \ | \ | Jack mounting hole and nut \ \ Cord being yanked to the right

That would be a hard thing to remember. Tripping over it once would be all it takes to illustrate how the plug tip could be rammed into the contacts toward the end of the jack and deform them enough to stop working.

That's normal operation. The jack isn't design to have lateral force on the contacts, the kind that a sharp yank on the cable could cause. Look at a headphone jack. There is only strong support for the plug at the point where the jack attaches to the case. Beyond that contact point, only the slim metal contacts fingers hold it perpendicular to the case front. Well-made jacks have enough "sleeve" to prevent much wiggling, but the tendency to "cost engineer" had probably resulted in newer jacks using less material to keep the plug in straight.

If the jack only holds the plug in position firmly where it mounts to the case, it's very easy for me to imagine that it could bend the contacts far enough away so that they fail to make contact in normal operation. Once again, it's far more likely to damage the headphone cord, but molded strain reliefs are pretty tough and may have absorbed the damaging pull. I've got two portable MP3 players that have suffered exactly the kind of damage HB reports. I know they've been tugged on too hard so I have no trouble believing it's what's happened to her HK, too. The symptoms are exactly as she described. Intermittent stereo (in my case sometimes fixable by wiggling the plug) that eventually becomes one channel only.

I don't think I've ever used long headphone cords *without* that happening at some point. It's just the nature of the beast. It's one reason wireless headphones are so popular. Cords get tangled and tripped over. That's why electric skillets and fryers have magnetically detachable cords - because the outcome of a tripped over fryer cord is predictable and likely to be far worse than damaging a headphone jack.

[Higgs Boson]

Hope I don't get my head handed to me for NOT snipping the above analysis o f how plug can be damaged by ****ing the cord connecing HK to headphones.

In answer to several queries, no, I never pulled on cord or hit it or damag ed it or cord in any way. Always inserted adapter in big plus t carefully a nd inserted big plug in jack carefully.

Initially cord from jack to headphones might sway a little over approx 7-8 ft. distance as I moved in bed. As jack deteriorated, I had to mickey-mous e-sway the cord more to keep both channels.

When it got to only one channel (except for the occasional brief crackle fr om the other) I thought as follows: Since I get the brief crackle when plu g is "forced" to the right IN THE JACK, why don't I brace it to keep it tha t way. Unfortunately by then it was too late. I vaguely knew from my frie nd that plug needed to contact walls of jack, but I didn't know about the c ontact points explained here.

Hope that's clear.

I plan to try Bobby G.'s suggestion re: headphones, but first I need to lin e up somebody to supervise. Former neighbor who rigged up sounds to go thr ough HK is not available; he's moved out of town I read everything technical that you guys post with interest, but much of i t is beyond me.

As I wrote earlier, I'm grateful for all the help; maybe it's time to wrap up thread?

HB

[Robert Green]

I am satisfied that we know what happened and why. Others may be less certain.

I'm certain we can direct you remotely on how to hook this up, especially if you're willing to do the parts research and take/post photos when needed. It's pretty simple to tell you exactly what to do once we can see the exact connections you're dealing with (photos or diagrams of the back of your TV and stereo). It's even possible you have some of the cables left over from some other A/V gear.

[micky]

Yeah, but unless they are all within 3 inches of each other, you'll need two 3 or 6 foot cables to reach your destinations. And those cables are much more common with two male ends.

I didn't mean to suggest you should have found a picture of the one I was talking about. If you read my two lines again, I'm not criticizing your picture, only saying one with 2 female ends will probably be more useful.

But I can imagine the OP diligently looking for MMM connector, because that's what the picture shows, and then having to hunt some more for cables that are M-F, instead of F-F like most.

Should I drop this or should I say, It's not good to make them simpler than they are, either. There is no "if". The splitter cable, or Y-connector, in your picture is too short to reach anything but another cable.

[micky]

You've made your point. Several times now.

[SteveB]

BFSnip

One of two things: Either the cord is somehow damaged and not working, or you have gotten a mono jack mixed up with your stereo jacks. They do make mono jacks for such things as test equipment, metal detectors, and items where stereo is not needed. They are two bucks, or a dime at Salvation army. Go get another. And while you are at it, get another cheap set of headphones. It's one or the other.

Steve

[Higgs Boson]

[...]

Jack IS stereo and functioned as such until it began to go bad.

Cord is NOT damaged; I tested it on other equipment, along with testing all plugs, adapters and headphones. All are OK.

Tx

HB

[micky]

Read this again. ---- I should have been clear. I mean reed the sentence above again.

And I didn't say they did. I said the opposite, because that's what you had said.

[Higgs Boson]

[...]

OK, Bobby G. re: headphones, I did a search using nearly your exact words:

and got the following:

Do any of the 4 listed pix fit your suggested specs?

TX for your help & patience.

HB

[Higgs Boson]

[...thread snipped....]

Checked the TinyURL Web site via my usual search engine, but did not get it. Got it via Google Chrome. Sorry for inconvenience

HB

[Robert Green]

Didn't work for me. Doesn't matter because whatever you choose is first dependent on how the TV connects to the Harmon Kardon. You have to either photograph, videograph or describe the nature of the connection between the two devices. That's the only way to be sure a headphone amplifier will actually work. It's still just a "best guess/cheapest" option.

That doesn't mean we won't eventually need the URLs of headphone amps, just that it's premature if your friend used some other means, like a vampire speaker tap, to transfer audio out of the TV.

One at a time for the URLs, please. (-:

Sample of connection description: "The TV has two cables going to the Harmon Kardon, one ending in red and one ending in white going into jacks labeled [Audio OUT]." Or "The cables from the TV are small wires plugged into the speaker output ports" or something like that so we can actually be sure how your friend connected the TV to the stereo.

Without that interconnection diagram, photo, video or description, we're still guessing exactly how your friend did it and what we need to do to work around the (allegedly but most likely) bad jack.

[None]

WTF?