Connecting a Dual Jack Headphone to Standard Size Jack

[exequor]

I have a headphone from an airplane (those with the dual jacks) and I cut off that jack and I am trying to put on one of the standard size jacks (those on cd players, etc). the thing is when i cut both i saw a blue, a red and a copper/bronze wire (or group of wires). So I connected them and tested the modified line while not allowing them to come in contact with each other and I cannot get it to work.

I know that the headphone works because I tried it at the back of my computer where the input port and output port lie close and one side was playing; that is understandable since each jack on these dual jack headphones is responsible for an audio channel or side of the headphone.

Is there something else that i didn't take into consideration or would this even work?

 

[chroot]

It sounds like they obfuscated their headphone connections on purpose to discourage people from stealing them, yes?

You should probably open the earcups and see how the speakers are wired.

The "copper/bronze group of wires" you mentioned is probably the braided shield surrounding the red and blue insulated wires. The shield is normally connected to ground, and is also connected to the lowest, larger part of the phono plug. The two red (or blue) wires should be connected together, then also connected to ground. The remaining two red (or blue) wires carry your left and right channel signals. You may find that the sound quality is better when using one color of wires for the audio signals versus the other; the speakers are probably optimized for one polarity.

- Warren

 

[exequor]

I've done everything that you've said and it still doesn't work, I'll give it another shot at though.

 

[chroot]

Well, open the earcups and check the wiring yourself.

- Warren

 

[exequor]

I did open the earcups and all I've seen is the same connection as most headphones only that it had a series connection to the left side from the right side (the wire from the jack only goes to the right side).

 

[chroot]

Can you use an voltmeter to make sure the speakers are connected normally? And they're the correct resistance? Most speakers are 2 or 4 ohms (when driven by audio frequency AC, I'm not sure of the frequency) -- it's possible the airline uses odd high-resistance speakers and large voltages to drive them or something.

- Warren

 

[exequor]

I would look at that; at the moment I am suffering from a shortage of tools, I'll see what I can do. It seems like the airline has done some unusual things to deter folks from stealing their headphones.