This is a guide / tutorial on how to make a custom DIY braided cable out of Mogami W2893 wire for Senheiser HD660s, HD650,HD600, HD6XX etc
Build tools needed:
• Soldering iron
• Solder ø0.5mm- ø 1mm (preferable with lead to make it easier to solder)
• Solder paste (for cleaning the tip of the iron)
• Multimeter (to find out which wire is Ground, Left channel and Right channel)
• Helping hands (optional)
• Metallic cleaning sponge
NOTE: Please keep always your iron tip clean. Recommended soldering iron temperature is around 240° Celsius.
When soldering the wires on the 3.5mm Jack don’t place the iron on the pins more than 1 sec at a time in order to not melt the rubber rings on the jack (common newbie mistake).
Cable parts needed to achieve 1,5M round braided cable:
• 6,4M of Mogami W2893 wire
• Senheiser HD6XX connectors (with clear tail cable protector)
• 3.5mm Jack TRS connector (with 3.5mm clear tail cable protector and 6mm heat shrink)
• carbon Y wire splitter (in ø3.2mm, out 2x ø2mm) (also this splitter, small size one could be used)
• 3 pieces of heat shrink for each Senheiser connector side . Each 6mm long and ø2.5mm, ø3mm, ø3.5mm (up to ø5mm should fit)
1 Cut the 6.4M Mogami Wire into 4 parts, each 1,6M long. Strip out the outer jacket and remove the shielding from all 4 resulting cables. This is needed because the Mogami W2893 uses 4 color wires internally (clear, blue, red and black) and for this example i will be using 4x Clear (each 1.6M long). So separate the clear wires from all other colors, because that’s what we need for this example. After braiding the 1,6M wire it will transform into 1.5M total cable length.
2 Before tinning the 4x wires and 3.5mm Jack TRS connector, insert the metal TRS connector housing, then clear tail and at the end the 6mm heat shrink into the 4x clear wires. The heat shrink will protect from eventual shorts from the pins with the metal TRS housing.
3 Tin the 4 wires and 3 pins of the 3.5mm Jack: Ground, Right Channel (Ring) and Left Channel (Tip) .
4 Solder the wires to the respective 3.5mm Jack pins. 2 of the wires go to the Ground, one goes to Tip (Left channel) and the last one goes to the Ring (right channel). Since the wires are all clear it doesn’t matter it this point which one you choose for the respective pins, it can be random.
5 Braiding. I prefer Round type of braiding. I have tried flat type in the past and found it too stiff and ugly. The Round Braid makes the cable more flexible and it looks cooler imo.
Braid around 7cm of the cable (starting form the soldered TRS jack) then pull up the 6mm heat shrink to the jack, next pull up the clear tail and at last the metal housing connector. Apply heat to the heat shrink. Screw in the metallic housing to the TRS jack and adjust the tail in place.
6 Continue braiding until reaching about 1.3M of total braided cable.
7 Before inserting the Y wire splitter we will need to find out which one of the wires was soldered to Ground, Left channel and Right channel. Use multimeter to find out. Google how to do that 😛
8 After finding out which wire is Ground, Left and Right separate the wires in 2 + 2: One of the Ground wires goes with Left Channel and another Ground wire goes with Right Channel. Insert them into the Y splitter accordingly separated and push gently the Y splitter to where the braiding ends.
9 Make sure the wires are same length from the Y wire splitter to the tip where they will be soldered into the Senheiser connectors. If there are a few cm difference just cut the extra cm making sure on both sides it is same length.
10 Twist each of 2 combined wires between each other on both sides.
11 It’s time to insert the metallic housing of the Senheiser connector. Then tail. Then the ø3.5mm heat shrink, ø3mm and at last ø2.5mm in this order on both sides.
12 Note: By default Black Senheiser connector means it is Left ear and Red is Right ear.
Now we have to make sure or just double check which wire is Left/Right channel and which is Ground on each side. Again, Multimeter has to be used for that. After confirming that it is time to solder. The Ground should be soldered to the – Pin (thicker pin) and Left channel to the + Pin (Slimmer pin) of the Black Color Connector.
Same with the Red Senheiser Connector respectively : The Ground should be soldered to the – Pin (thicker pin) and Right channel to the + Pin (Slimmer pin).
13 Pull up the ø2.5mm heat shrink, heat it up. Pull up the ø3mm heat shrink over the ø2.5mm one, heat it up. Pull up the ø3.5mm over the 2 pins of the Senheiser connector, no need to heat it. Screw in the housing. Repeat the same procedure for the other connector.
15 Test with the Multimeter if there are no shorts. Twist the cable on the edge of the connectors to make sure everything is secured and stays firmly in place. Test again with the Multimeter for possible failure and/or shorts.
Test with the Senheiser headphones now.
Does it sound amazing ? Yes? Ok. Great job ! 🍻
Done. Enjoy 💃🏿🕺🏿
