Red Blue Gold (New Speaker Wire?) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: Pick
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 19, 2019, 05:48:09 pm
content: Anyone know anything about this (apparently new?) speaker wire?"Red, Blue, Gold"Image Below:Used on my headphones (the wire was cut and i'm attempting to repair it).It seems to be fabric coated? (allowing the wires to touch one another without shorting out?)I'm hoping to connect this wire to a standard "Red/Black" speaker wire (which already has a 1/4" tip connected to the other end.)I'm assuming this type of wire is somewhat new? (I cannot find much information pertaining to it online).Any help is greatly appreciated.Thanks,-PickWaldorf, MD

author: coromonadalix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2019, 05:53:55 pm
content: when i had thoses wires repaired recently on a cheap 3.5 mm wired adapter of mineI had to heat them a lot to burn the enamel on the wire to be able to solder them, maybe put some solder flux will accelerate the process ?

author: TheBay
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 19, 2019, 08:13:14 pm
content: That stuff has been around for years, hot iron and heat it up with a blob of solder (Flux based) on the end, it will burn away the insulation and tin the wire.

author: RyanT
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2019, 08:54:13 pm
content: Nothing new about this. This is not a "speaker wire," but a TRS connector. Each wire within the cable connects to a different part of your 3.5mm TRS connector. (TRS stands for Tip-Ring-Sleeve.) Three conductors are necessary to have a stereo (i.e., two channel) analog audio. If you only had two conductors, you'd have mono.As for repairing them, the replies above me are right. These are very fine wires, and they're coated by some kind of enamel/shellac for insulation. It can be a bit tricky to solder, and you definitely need to watch your heat and not burn the insulation too far up the wire. Use a generous length of heat shrink tubing on each wire for insulation and strain relief, and ideally a larger diameter shrink tubing around all three. If done correctly, your solder joints will be much stronger than the original wires, but the wires will be prone to breaking right next to that stiff joint, so the more strain relief you can provide, the longer your repair will last.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2019, 10:10:39 pm
content: @Pick, I think what you were mainly asking about is the colour code on these three wires -- i.e. which wire to connect to which on your red/black/ground replacement cable?I don't think there is a standard assignment for the red/blue/gold colors. Do you still have the torn-off end of the original cable, with the plug connected to it? And do you have a multimeter? Then it is best to measure the resistances between the various cable ends and the plug connectors, to find out which colour connect to tip, ring, and sleeve of the plug respectively. Then check the same on your new cable, and connect the right colours.The instructions given by others above are great for removing the coloured insulation, soldering, and isolating. You may have to apply some solder and burn off the insulation from the ends of the torn-off cable as well, in order to make reliable measurements.