Diagnosing wiring problems.

[Las Wedrowiec]

My apologies if this is in the wrong forum.

Years ago I came under the possession of a beat up pair of Realistic Nova Pro headphones at a garage sale for two dollars. Not in the best condition, but serviceable enough for use. For a while now in the absence of speakers and disposable funding, they've served not only as my main choice for computer audio but also the headphones I carry with me to provide personal audio on the go.

In the past two months alone, I have opened them up multiple times to replace oxidized connections, resoldering almost every connection in the left can alone, to maintain their functionality. Yeah, even though they're collector's items of sorts, I could just buy another pair in excellent condition and replace this one outright, but my insanity leads me to find pride in maintaining what I have instead of outright replacing it. Plus, it's a hobby between my studies.

For the past two weeks, I've had to tug at the wire that bridges the two cans together where it enters the right can for the right speaker to work properly. Sadly, I put them on earlier this evening and found that the right speaker is now completely dead.

I've made lacerations in the wire in multiple places, completely removing the core wires from the wire encasing on the right side to check any breaks in the wires, to which I've found none. I've been using a multimeter's resistance function to attempt this, and to no avail can I find anything wrong myself yet.

How do I go more effectively at checking the connections? Perhaps I'm looking in the complete wrong place for a bad connection? Is it proper to check connections by checking for a change in resistance? Or, in the event it's the fault of the variable resistor which regulates volume control for the right can, how may I easily check its function without sound in the speaker?

The circuit for these is pretty simple, considering they ran from 1970 to the mid 80s, but I may provide pictures of the wiring if needed.

[HeadphoneAddict]

I can't help with wiring sorry, but if you really need some realistic headphones go look for a vintage pair of realistic Pro 30 orthodynamic headphones. Then mod them with extra dampening and you'll be surprised at how well they perform. And you'll still have the pride of getting your hands dirty inside them.

[Las Wedrowiec]

For reference, is there a way to do that without an external amplifier?

[nikongod]

I've made lacerations in the wire in multiple places, completely removing the core wires from the wire encasing on the right side to check any breaks in the wires, to which I've found none.

[Emooze]

I'm so confused.

Experience tends to make me think you should just toss the wire and recable the whole damn thing if your intent is to salvage them

[The Monkey]

Yeah, recabling the whole thing is probably the only way to go. I don't know anything about these cans. Are they something special?

[acidbasement]

I think you're overstating their collector value, and overthinking your problem. I agree with the others if you really want to salvage them. Replace the cable entirely.

Edited June 27, 2012 by acidbasement

[Pars]

You should be able to tell something with a meter by ohming out R (ring) to ground (sleeve) and L (tip) to ground. Not sure what you might see if it has a pot inline... I'm guessing the pot will be a constant impedance towards the source/amp. If you suspect the pot, get rid of it when you rewire.

Playing around with existing wires that might be flaky is an exercise in futility....