Patent ID: 7155025

Claim:
A headphone system comprising: a headphone assembly for wearing on the head of a user, comprising: a pair of earpieces, each earpiece being adapted for positioning adjacent to an ear of the user, each of said earpieces having an open inner face, each of said inner faces of said earpieces defining a cavity in said earpiece, each of said inner faces of said earpieces having a center extent in said cavity of the respective earpiece, said center extent of each earpiece having a vertex and at least two side faces, each of said side faces having at least one speaker mounted thereon; connecting means for connecting said earpieces such that the earpieces are positionable adjacent to the ears of the user; and transmitting means for transmitting sound signals from a s sound signal source to the speakers of said earpieces, said transmitting means transmitting a separate sound signal to each of said speakers in each of said earpieces; wherein said transmitting means comprises a signal cord assembly for transferring a separate sound signal to each of said speakers of each of said earpieces, said signal cord assembly including: a headphone cord with a plurality of electrical conductors, each of said plurality of conductors being electrically connected to one of said speakers mounted on said earpieces for providing sound signals to said speakers; a signal jack electrically connected to the electrical conductors of said cord, said signal jack having a free end with an outer surface located adjacent to said free end, a recess being formed in the free end of said signal jack and being defined by an inner surface, said signal jack comprising: a positive contact assembly comprising a plurality of conductive contacts with each of said conductive contacts being in electrical communication with one of said electrical conductors of said cord; and a negative contact positioned in said recess; a signal plug for releasably mating with said signal jack for transferring sound signals therebetween, said signal plug having a free end for complementarily mating with the free end of said signal jack, said signal plug having an annular groove extending into the free end of said signal plug for receiving a portion of said signal jack, said annular groove being defined by a central prong and an annular surface radially spaced from said central prong, said signal plug comprising: a negative contact positioned on said central prong of said signal plug; a positive contact assembly comprising a plurality of conductive contacts being present in an equal number to the conductive contacts of said signal jack, said plurality of conductive contacts comprising eight conductive contacts.