Headphone Removable Cable - Sony MDR-V500

Hi,

This is Yet Another Headphone Removable Cable Instructable. This time with a set of Sony MDR-V500 Headphones.

The idea for creating this Instructable came after seeing a set of Beats with a removable cable. So, here it is.

These are the Sony MSR-V500 headphones. We need a 3.5mm stereo jack and the plug to go with it. Plug is solder type.

We also need all the related soldering tools such as solder, sponge, paste and iron, plus some other tools. Not pictured are a cordless drill, pliers, gas lighter, scissors and nail clippers.

First, for this particular set of headphone, we only need to disassemble one side. Other Instructable guides add jacks to both sides of the headphones, but I went with only a one-sided style.

These headphones were modified to accept those makeup sponges, as the ear pads had lost their "fluff", so obviously, your headphones will not have them. Just -very carefully- begin removing the ear pad from the main assembly in order to expose the 3 size 1 Phillips screws.

With a Phillips size 1 bit, remove the 3 screws. The wires will become exposed. As I am very distracted, I decided to sketch which wire goes where. This also helped me decide how to rewire everything inside.

After the pseudo-schematic was drawn, time to desolder all the wires.

I desoldered all the wires, confident that all my conections were clearly labeled in my schematic.

This should be easy. The original assembly of the headphone makes use of a plastic tie to avoid the cable from being pulled away from the speaker. Cut it with a cable clipper - I used scissors.

Pull the cable away.

Finally, remove the sheath. You might need to use medium force for this.

Modifying the cable is next.

This is the 3.5mm plug, solder type.

I used two different types of heat shrink tubing, with the idea of making it look a bit nicer.

Pay attention to what you're doing: slide in the thinner heat shrink tube first and then the wider one. Next, slide in the plug shield and strain relief and finally the transparent nylon tube. This last tube will avoid shorting left or right with the grounded plug shield.

After soldering the wires and screwing the shield tightly, we use a small gas lighter to finish this particular step of the process.

This is a plastic case 3.5mm stereo jack, solder type.

Trial fit. Seems like we're going to need to make the hole a little bigger.

Also, the rubber surround in the outer perimeter of the case has this protruding edge. We need to cut it.

A small cordless drill will do to enlarge the mounting hole. Lift the rubber surround and give it a few passes. Measure after a few times, being careful not to enlarge the hole too much.

Trial fit one las time with the supplied nut. We can now see that the protruding piece of rubber definitely needs to be cut away.

After checking my schematic (I didn't want to have to desolder and redo the work done), I soldered two pieces of wire to the speaker. I paid special attention to the positive and negative wires.

Next, I soldered the ground wires to the jack and finally the left and right sides of the wires.

Almost done!

Naturally the nut was way too big to fit inside the protruding rubber section. So, scissors came into play to remove the offending material. I found too, that even if I tried to cut as close to the rubber band, it wasn't enough. Lastly, I decided to use nail clippers to remove as much of it as possible.

Then, I stretched the rubber band over the nut.

Looks a bit expanded, and the rubber band doesn't look tidy enough. I will probably use contact cement to give it a nicer look, which I don't have at the moment, so a visit to the hardware store ensues.

I hadn't trial tested to see if the enclosure would close with the newly added plastic stereo jack, but everything closed beautifully. (Distracted me, huh?)

This is how it looks!

Now, the parts used were not very high quality, so the right side of the headphones sometimes cuts out, seems like the jack and the plug fail to make good constant electrical contact. Both the jack and the plug look of flimsy workmanship. This means that I will have to go shopping for better quality parts next time.

For what it's worth, I'm happy with this little one-hour project!

Let us know if you have any comments or suggestions.

Happy headphone modifications!