Headphone has gone mono, anyone know a fix?

[Death2All]

The right earpiece in the current headset I own no longer plays sound. I have had this problem with literally every headset I've ever owned. Eventually after enough time they just give out.

It's my understanding that a lot of headsets have faulty wiring and that after time they eventually shit out on you. In the past, I've found a fix by contorting the wire in a strange way and then taping the wire down. That would somehow power the right earpiece again. This time however, it's not the case. I can sometimes get a little bit of sound when I wiggle the wire, but it's no definite fix.


Unfortunately right now, money is a little tight and I was hoping someone could offer a fix if they have experience with this sort of thing. I'm not really tech savvy enough to the point where I think I could open the headset up and do some soldering (a suggestion I've seen for some broken headsets).


Here is the headset in question in case it helps any: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Plantronics+-+Multimedia+Stereo+Headset/9210276.p?id=1218059403490&skuId=9210276&st=headset&cp=5&lp=3

[Vancha]

Do you ever touch the inline volume control and does sliding the wheel help any?

My old Plantronics would start shifting left/right depending on where that volume control was.

Also, any chance you're simply putting too much weight on the cable? If it keeps happening, maybe you should try something different...

[Ieyasu]

sounds like a classic case of a broken wire from stress.

in all likelyhood the only real fix would be to open up the headsets right speaker and check the connection.

I dont think the headsets have such faulty wiring so much as the constant action of putting them over your head and moving them about can fatigue the wires sending signals to your speakers and cause them to sound like theyre cutting out as the wire goes from making contact with other part of wire and then being pulled back apart. This is why if you bent the wire in a odd way before on other headsets they would work.

if the wire has come detached from the speaker itself your only real bet at repairing it would be to solder it onto the contact point again. if the break is in the wire you can simply locate the break and splice the wire together. of course if your headset is under 2 years old its possible its still covered under warranty and that would be your best bet as opposed to trying a repair yourself.

[UKSwiFT]

This has happened to me a few times in the past with different headphones/headsets. Try fiddling with the volume control to see if you can get stereo back, also, you can try pushing in/out and twisting the different parts of the wire connections. Don't do it too hard though or you'll make it worse. If all else fails, sad to say, but probably time to get a new pair.

[inspades]

Did you check that your faulty headphones have the same issue with your mp3 player?

[Gandhi]

9 times out of 10 this is a broken wire at the plug end, since that's under the most stress usually. What I did was order a dozen of these things:

http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B003XJHRQA/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

They're basically like sacrificial anodes, their only job is to take the stress off the headphone cord. When one breaks I just throw it out and stick the next one on.

But sadly that won't help fix a broken pair. If it really is the plug end that's causing the problems you could cut it off and solder a new plug on, there's nothing to lose by trying at least. It might be a little tricky since most headphones have really thin wires coated in epoxy that has to be removed first, but I had some luck with it back in my college days when I was short on money. It wasn't pretty, but it worked :)

If it's the headphone end that's causing trouble you might even find that you only have to solder the wire back onto the speaker contact, that shouldn't be too tough after you get them open.

[Gloworm]

9 times out of 10 this is a broken wire at the plug end, since that's under the most stress usually. What I did was order a dozen of these things:

http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B003XJHRQA/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

They're basically like sacrificial anodes, their only job is to take the stress off the headphone cord. When one breaks I just throw it out and stick the next one on.

But sadly that won't help fix a broken pair. If it really is the plug end that's causing the problems you could cut it off and solder a new plug on, there's nothing to lose by trying at least. It might be a little tricky since most headphones have really thin wires coated in epoxy that has to be removed first, but I had some luck with it back in my college days when I was short on money. It wasn't pretty, but it worked :)

If it's the headphone end that's causing trouble you might even find that you only have to solder the wire back onto the speaker contact, that shouldn't be too tough after you get them open.

I've had issues with earphones for a long time, it reached the point where they only last a few months for me, I know it's just cause i use them so much and if my laptop os on my lap the nodes get damaged by pressing onto my lap if i lie down. But those node things seem like a brilliant idea, next time i buy a new pair, in the next few weeks, i'm getting one of them aswell!