any tips for making your own phono to jack cable?

Ingemar · Post by **Ingemar** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 12:14 pm

since I have heaps of phono to phono cables and jack to jack ones, but desperately need a phono to jack I was wondering if there is an easy way to do your own frankenstein cable, because my google searches has yielded nothing so far - also since the gearslutz board gave nothing I'm starting to doubt this project, but if anyone can give me any pointers on how to procede or a good website with articles I'd be more than happy

thanks
(checking wikipedia while waiting for replies..)

MINIMALTECHNOHOUSE · Post by **MINIMALTECHNOHOUSE** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:01 pm

Just buy one tight arse

Ingemar · Post by **Ingemar** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 11:21 pm

meh where's the dyi attitude here

prussell · Post by **prussell** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 12:32 am

not sure exactly what you mean by "phono to jack", but why not just buy an adapter?

agodi · Post by **agodi** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 2:49 am

Havent done it myself but I definitely understand the DIY'ers curiousity as you get to learn about how electronics work in the process. Try searching for it as a trs connector rather than phono to jack. Heres a pic of the wiring

Ingemar · Post by **Ingemar** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 4:01 am

thanks agodi that was exactly what i was looking for, but what really bugs me is that i cant seem to find a similar schematic for the phono cables and must admit that i am a bit reluctant to start cutting into things without having some sort of idea of what to find inside

but i mean the phono cables are an invention thats been around for 60 years or so so it shouldnt be that hard to tamper with. My main concern is to braid the correct colour cable with its equivalent as i suspect short circuiting might be the result of faulty wireing and i have no idea what consequences that might lead to when trying out with say a soundcard or a speaker

prussell · Post by **prussell** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 5:31 am

again, if you define "phono" and "jack", i might be able to help you further.
1/4? 1/8? RCA? XLR?

it also depends on the application; if you don't know what's inside, i assume (perhaps incorrectly) that you don't know the difference between balanced vs. unbalanced, and when to use or not use them.
this is key in knowing how to wire these things up yourself, which i assure you is not hard.

Ingemar · Post by **Ingemar** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 2:28 pm

thanks prussell. With phono cable I mean a RCA cable with two (four, one red and one white in each end) male ends, and with jack I mean a 1/8" TRS-cable also with two ends.

also you are right about me not knowing about balance vs. unbalanced, so I'll look that up as well, cheers