Iron Tips: Soldering Headphones and Enamel Wire

We’ve all had that treasured pair of headphones fail us. One moment we’re jamming out to our favorite song, then, betrayal. The right ear goes out. No wait. It’s back. No, damn, it’s gone. It works for a while and then no jiggling of the wire will bring it back. So we think to ourselves, we’ve soldered before. This is nothing. We’ll just splice the wire together.

So we open it up only to be faced with the worst imaginable configuration: little strands of copper enamel wire intertwined with nylon for some reason. How does a mortal solder this? First …read more

Continue reading Iron Tips: Soldering Headphones and Enamel Wire

KEF and Porsche Design Team Up to Build Seriously Stunning Audio Gear

They certainly aren’t cheap, but KEF’s new noise-cancelling headphones, Bluetooth speaker, and wireless earbuds should sound as gorgeous as they look. The post KEF and Porsche Design Team Up to Build Seriously Stunning Audio Gear appeared first on WIRED. Continue reading KEF and Porsche Design Team Up to Build Seriously Stunning Audio Gear

High Impedance Headphones? They’re In The Can!

[George Trimble] likes to build crystal radios. The original crystal radio builders used high impedance headphones. In modern builds, you are as likely to include a powered amplifier to drive a speaker or normal headphones (which are usually around 4 to 16 ohms).

[George] builds his own speakers using chile cans, some wire, a few magnets, part of a Pepsi can (we are pretty sure someone will leave a comment that Coke cans sound better), and the iron core out of an audio transformer. You can see a very detailed video of the process, below.

There is a little woodworking …read more

Continue reading High Impedance Headphones? They’re In The Can!