Heaphone Extension

D

danrawl29

New member
Hi,

I have a 1/4 coupler that's hooked up to just a regular 1/4 instrument cable run to my interface as my headphone extender. I understand it's mono, but why do I only get sound out of my left ear in my headphones?

Thanks
 
Because it is a mono cable. The stereo cable or TRS has 3 contacts. You are not getting the signal from the other side.

Just buy a headphone extension cable. :)
 
Because an instrument cable is just a center wire with a braided shield around it. How do you expect the R channel to travel to your headphones?

Stereo outputs like your headphone out don't just switch to mono when you plug in a mono end.
 
You could buy a mono-stereo adapter, but why mess with multiple adapters, just get a stereo extension cord. I got a 12 ft one on ebay or amazon for about $4.
 
But those $4 extension jobbers suck! I've been through piles of them over the years. They tend to work right up until you actually need them.

If you only need 1 or 2 you might think about making a set of TRS>XLR adapter cables. It's a pretty good "my first soldering" project, and is incredibly useful in the modern age.

Me? I have this patchbay that I've been pulling the modules out of. They can be used to couple one male TRS to another - in pairs. Being half-normalled, they can also be used to split signals. I keep a handful in my mic bag, one in my guitar case, one velcroed to my pedalboard, my bass player carries one with two long guitar cables just in case the club doesn't have a DI... Anyway, if I had any TRS cables of decent length, I could extend all the headphones!
 
ashcat_lt said:
But those $4 extension jobbers suck! I've been through piles of them over the years. They tend to work right up until you actually need them.
Click to expand...

But at $4 you can buy one every year for years for less than the cost of soldering your own together ( I suck at soldering, too!)
Spend more, get a 'more solid' extension, but anything (even the $4 one) is going to be as good (or better than) using a guitar cable and a female-female adapter!
 
mjbphotos said:
But at $4 you can buy one every year for years for less than the cost of soldering your own together ( I suck at soldering, too!)
Spend more, get a 'more solid' extension, but anything (even the $4 one) is going to be as good (or better than) using a guitar cable and a female-female adapter!
Click to expand...
All good points. I was just throwing out alternatives. The thing with the TRS>XLR is cool because you can just chain mic cables together and have it as long as you need. You can also have a dual TS end to make it easier to interface something like an iPod to other gear. Make two and you've got an extendable pair of TS cables. The possibilities...
 
You're better off paying the $40.00 or so to get a good quality headphone extension cable. The one I have is going on five years and it's still sounding and working great. Heavy duty and built to last--I've stepped on it and yanked the phones right off my head a few times--guaranteed to destroy the crappy extensions--and it's still working fine. I can't remember the brand, but expect to pay at least $40.00 for 15 feet.
 
I make my own from 3 core flex. The distribution system in the studio, which goes out to headphone boxes, I use alarm cable like this. So you could make up a box with between 2 to 4 headphones plugs in it, run a 3 core cable from it to where you want to plug it in, and wire a stereo jack on the end of the cable.

Alan.
 
I still have a few coiled radio shack extension left over from the 70's! American made then and built to last. :thumbs up:
 
I have a couple radio shack ones that have been going for 3 years now. They are just cheap consumer grade stuff but for some reason I have had good luck with them so far.

I won't cry when they die. I think I paid like $10 a piece or something.
 
Every line jack socket I have ever come across bar one has been unreliable.
The exception is the metal Neutrik socket which also latches. They are however quite expensive.

Best off putting a standard stereo jack in a tin, better two in parallel, grommet, then as much cable as you like.

Dave.
 
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