Name the cable competition

[talksr]

Hi everyone,

Can anyone tell me what the name of this cable is? It has a headphone jack on the other end which goes into the PC for a hall projector system.

It seems to be RCA to headphone, but it is almost a double RCA as the left is joined to the right. 

We need a replacement as the headphone jack end has been pulled out of the plug and is totally desoldered and messed up.

 

Thanks in advance...

[synaesthesia]

Likely just stereo RCA? See the short pigtail done quite often in DIY setups

[TechMonkey]

Unless someone with more knowledge can put me right, I'd say it was a bodge of a homemade cable.  Looks like RCA to mini jack, but I have never seen them in series like that, always all the way to the mini jack, half each.

[ITGuyNW]

I'm going with Dave the cable

[Fazza]

Looks like a homemade Y splitter phono cable to me.

[Andrew_C]

Home made L-R split, with decent looking phonos.

[Fazza]

A continuity test with a multimeter is in order to see for sure what it does.

[Dos_Box]

Can I ask how this was attached? I've found similar online, but it would help if we knew if the RCA jacks were connected to the L\R channels then the 3.5mm jack to the PC.
I've found these - https://cpc.farnell.com/pro-signal/psg00807/3-5mm-jack-plug-to-2x-phono-pl/dp/AV14270?st=phono plug but it will all depend on what the phono jacks connect too.

[jthompson]

The harder question would be to ask which is L and which is R.

[Koldov]

I'm not entering a competition unless you require my name, school details, email address and telephone number... and promise not to contact me with endless spam marketing...

 

But yes, looks like RCA phono at that end (probably old, possibly DIY) to put stereo down 'one' cable, don't know if it's 3.5mm or 1/4 inch female at the other (headphone socket?).

 

 

EDIT: Headphone jack...

 

 

Yeah, can't believe someone hasn't put an L and R in Tippex on them, but really for 99% of the time it wouldn't matter...

Edited June 23, 2025 by Koldov

[SamanthaD]

I'd go for a standard 3.5mm to 2 x RCA. Just the way this is done is one channel bypasses the first plug and goes to the second, easier way of "splitting" the ground wire.What has been shown above should do you fine.

[PotNoodleTech]

That actually looks like a bodge cable where only one channel (e.g. right hand) is being sent to both left and right.  So technically that cable is mono not stereo.

 

If you need a what I call a 3.5mm headphone (or 5.25mm headphone) to dual phono - ther are millions of them on amazon theyre ten a penny. 

 

[synaesthesia]

52 minutes ago, PotNoodleTech said:

That actually looks like a bodge cable where only one channel (e.g. right hand) is being sent to both left and right.  So technically that cable is mono not stereo.

 

If you need a what I call a 3.5mm headphone (or 5.25mm headphone) to dual phono - ther are millions of them on amazon theyre ten a penny. 

 

But you can't tell that without seeing inside or checking with a meter

Could very well be stereo.

[PotNoodleTech]

9 minutes ago, synaesthesia said:

But you can't tell that without seeing inside or checking with a meter

Could very well be stereo.

Doubt it. Given that each phono connector only has one ground and one signal.  For stereo it would need one ground and two signals which is why usually you have physically seperate cable for each channel signal coming out of the headphone plug.

 

I am sure the OP will get to the bottom of it.

Edited June 24, 2025 by PotNoodleTech

[Andrew_C]

31 minutes ago, PotNoodleTech said:

Doubt it. Given that each phono connector only has one ground and one signal.  For stereo it would need one ground and two signals which is why usually you have physically seperate cable for each channel signal coming out of the headphone plug.

 

I am sure the OP will get to the bottom of it.

No - coming from a stereo jack in a 2core & ground (microphone type) cable, looping ground through the first connector and on to the second, with a core to each pin...  I must have made dozens over the years.

Edited June 24, 2025 by Andrew_C
spling

[PotNoodleTech]

Fair enough but I don't see why bodge with a soldering iron when you can buy a £2 cable from amazon that's not a bodge?  Also makes troubleshooting easier for non audio engineers as you don't get the "what the heck is this cable wired up like this for" like this entire post is based on rather than "oh this cables broke I need a 3.5mm to dual phono like everyone else in the world uses for £2 from amazon free next day delivery happy days"

[synaesthesia]

Because that costs money and time, sometimes you need something that just works near immediately. And looking at the size of that cable, it's likely an existing microphone/XLR audio cable. Sometimes things need to be "Just Made", and what might be convenient for us as laymen might not be right for certain situations; whilst a microphone will run over an Amazon Basics cable containing less copper than a rural police station, it won't be good at it. Higher end audio often needs higher end cabling, and I'd rather that "bodge" than a random chinese grade thing which is only one step up from telling the person to shout louder instead of using a mic.

[PotNoodleTech]

Careful your starting to sound like an audiophile 😛  

[Andrew_C]

1 hour ago, synaesthesia said:

 Higher end audio often needs higher end cabling,

I've got some snake oil for sale...

 

The Amazon Basics cables are OK, but screening and longevity in a pro environment?  Nah - I'll make my own looking like the OP's .

[synaesthesia]

I am of course talking about non-chinesium grade stuff, as opposed to oxygen free, pure copper, gold plated, made in an airtight factory by artisans aged 94 years old

[TechMonkey]

Pah, I just use coat hanger wire...

[PotNoodleTech]

Just to clarify you can buy half decent stuff off amazon - all of the cables in my hifi are off amazon and my system sounds better than the entire bristol hifi show - but theyre quality cables like van damme studio blue and neutrik XLR connectors etc etc.  I've always been a studio kinda guy and they use van damme cables not japanese samurai cables enclosed in a wooden box with pearl weights and bamboo cable lifters as per the audiphile snake oil lunacy mentiond above.

 

Maybe I shoudnt have said "£2 cable" more like £12 to £22

[Koldov]

Don't forget the copper strands are rolled together on the thighs of virgins and they are sheathed in a covering of the finest mesh made from the golden wing feathers of an Angel to protect from the Devil of interference...

[Andrew_C]

17 hours ago, PotNoodleTech said:

Maybe I shoudnt have said "£2 cable" more like £12 to £22

Funny you should mention £2.  'cos that's the price/ metre that the microphone cable the BBC and other pro-studios use costs at short lengths.

[PotNoodleTech]

This is what I use on my studio monitors and hifi.  2.5mm on monitors and 6mm on hifi because bigger is always better, right?

 

Looks like the van damme mic cables are even cheaper!

 

Edited June 25, 2025 by PotNoodleTech