Stereo plug coverters 6.3mm to 3.5mm

[David WE Roberts]

I happen to have a quite decent pair of Sennheiser HD 25 SP headphones. Unfortunately they have the larger 6.3mm plug which doesn't fit much these days apart from older component stero systems.

Now converters from 3.5mm plugs to 6.3mm plugs work quite well because the smaller plug fits inside the larger plug which fits into a big socket.

However converting the other way is not so good, as you have a large plug into a large socket hanging off a small plug into a small socket. I have tried several different converted plugs over the years but never found a realy good one.

What would work much better would be a short extension with a 3.5mm plug and a 6.3mm socket. However Google is not being my friend and although I can find a lot of converter plugs I cannot find a converter lead.

Before I consider the possibilities of making up one myself has anyone seeen such a beast?

URLs welcome :-)

Cheers

Dave R

[Jim]

Sennheisers unplug at the headphone end - do yours?

[David WE Roberts]

Thanks - nothing like posting that you can't find something to aid you in finding it immediately afterwards. I found a Grado extension at as couple of places, including

expensive than the cheapest I found but perhaps it is decent quality.

I don't think the cables unplug - I have a red (for right) and black (for left) tag which fit into the body of the phones which could conceivably come out with a sharp tug. However without a very strong assurance that this was part of the design I will not be attempting it ;-)

I bought these in a sale and I suspected that they were cheap because they were the old model with the 6.3mm jack instead of the newer model with the

3.5mm jack. However I have just checked and the SP and the SP II both seem to have 6.3mm jacks. So at under £30 they were something of a bargain!

Cheers

Dave R

[Jim]

Heh. I did find this:

it seems to be more expensive than the price you paid for the headphones...

[Michael Chare]

I ended up buying a 6.3mm socket and a 3.5mm plug to bare ends cable from CPC.

[Adrian C]

>> But it seems to be more expensive than the price you paid for the > headphones... No, these headphones (for I have a pair as well) retail for around £90. The connectors at the earpieces do pull out, but if ye start playing around with them repeatedly (like me) you are going to come across contact problems - so don't.

When I bought mine, the first modification was to hack off the 1/4" plug and replace it with a cheap and cheerful (maplin) right angled 3.5mm plug for my Walkman. That modification (and shortening of the cable) has lasted me for years of travelling on noisy London tube trains.

[John Rumm]

Easy solution would be to chop the 1/4" plug off and solder a 3.5mm plug[1] on; then get the "other" adaptor to go back to the larger size if required.

[1] Not wishing to insult your intelligence, but just in case, look at the plug currently there carefully. My ones came with a small plug and an adaptor, that when mated look very similar to the normal larger plug. It was actually I while before I noticed one could pull em apart! (they had cunningly designed the spring contact tensions such that the big plug pulled out of the socket easier than the small one).

[David WE Roberts]

> But it seems to be more expensive than the price you paid for the > headphones...

Thanks for the link anyway. If I hadn't found an adapter cable I might have considered this. If the solution doesn't work i might still consider this. The picture does show the small connectors very nicely - a design feature which could benefit other headphones, I think. I WILL NOT take the connectors out.....I WILL NOT take the connectors out......

[David WE Roberts]

> But it seems to be more expensive than the price you paid for the > headphones...

more tempting at £29.99...

[David WE Roberts]

Unfortunately not. This is the more common set up for headphones but is usually given away by the amount of metal in the plug body.

The closet Sennheiser HD 25 SP owners club has surfaced and given me a lot of useful information :-)

If the adapter I have ordered doesn't work I will order a replacement lead and then have interchangeable 3.5mm and 6.3mm leads. The clips which join the leads into the headphone body are a good design which seem to go across the HD range of headphones.

I have managed to get the cost of a replacement lead below £30 but that is a hellacious lot of money for a plug, two clips, and a bit of wire! Probably special copper with each molecule aligned by hand by a reluctant virgin under a full moon.

Cheers

Dave R

[Jim]

He said he paid under £30!

[Adrian C]

Ah, I scan read a bit much too sometimes...

;-)

[Owain]

You don't get many reluctant virgins round Team Valley ...

Owain

[Dave Liquorice]

If there is one weakness in the HD25 it is the sockets that the cable plugs into on each earpeice, they really don't like repeated cycles.

Some one mentioned that some headphones have a 6.3mm male to 3.5mm female adapter supplied. This is true and may not be obvious as the adapter screws onto the male 3.5mm plug on the cable set.

[Tabby]

A 1/4" plug doesnt work well with a rigid 1/8" adaptor It doesnt work well with a plug-flex-socket adaptor either, as the adaptor gets misplaced. Replacing 1/4" with 1/8" plug also doesnt work well because the contact integrity of 1/8" jacks is dreadful.

So what does work? Adding a 2nd plug to the headphones. It can be wired in to the 1/4" jack plug. Now you dont use an adaptor, cant lose anything, no weight issues, and will never have contact issues when using the bigger plug.

NT

[Tim Downie]

>>> But it seems to be more expensive than the price you paid for the >> headphones...

Why not just solder on one of these?

[David WE Roberts]

Cable turned up packaged in a very fancy heat sealed black plastic envelope. All very smart, with 'Grado Prestige Mini Adapter Cable' written on it.

I am very pleased with it so far - good sound quality and no obvious problems, so much better than the plug adapters.

A replacement cable would be smarter and neater but I can't justify the extra cost at the moment :-)

Cheers

Dave R