Topic: Trying to make 3.5mm M-M jumper for CA preamp

[stantheman1976]

I need a short M to M jumper to connect my CA9000 preamp to my iRiver.  I have the connectors and some audio cable that has a black, a red, and a ground cable.  To make a jumper it should go red on the same connector on each side, black on teh same connector on each side, and ground placed where it should be right?  I've got a Microphone Madness lapel mic plugged into the recorder that I'm testing with that has a stereo connection to send the signal to both channels.  I've tried making the cable twice and each time only get one channel.  So am I doing something wrong?  I know the cable is good because it's from a roll that was used to hook up ceiling speakers in a conference room.

[lordbelial]

I need a short M to M jumper to connect my CA9000 preamp to my iRiver.  I have the connectors and some audio cable that has a black, a red, and a ground cable.  To make a jumper it should go red on the same connector on each side, black on teh same connector on each side, and ground placed where it should be right?  I've got a Microphone Madness lapel mic plugged into the recorder that I'm testing with that has a stereo connection to send the signal to both channels.  I've tried making the cable twice and each time only get one channel.  So am I doing something wrong?  I know the cable is good because it's from a roll that was used to hook up ceiling speakers in a conference room.

May be a soldering problem. If you've got a tester, check both sides.

[stantheman1976]

It's possible, but I made the same cable twice with 2 different pieces.  First time was from a newer batch of the cable, second time from an older roll.  It was the same both times.  The connectors were new ones I just bought for this.

[live2496]

It doesn't take a lot to get a very basic multimeter. Here is one at Sears for $11.99
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_03482362000P?mv=rr

If you find yourself making cables here and there it's a good investment. All you need for this is the continuity test (ohm setting)

When I make a cable I use the continuity test to test all conductors from end to end to ensure that the circuit is continuous. If the needle doesn't stay at full scale with the probes touching both ends of the wire it could indicate a problem. Also, check for a short between red and black, red and ground, and black and ground.

This eliminates a lot of second guessing. If you know the cable is good you can move on to checking out other possibilities.

You can pay a lot more for a meter, but for audio cables one like this will do.

[stantheman1976]

It's definitely one of the connectors.  I think I messed one up the first time I tried.  I'm going to get a couple more and try again.

I have a cheap multi meter someone gave me but I don't really remember how to use it.  I took some electronics classes 13 years ago.  Soldering is hard to forget how to do but as you know takes time to get good at.  I've just recently started again after all this time when I re-terminated some mics to 3.5mm and now trying to make this cable. 

[Will_S]

You have of course tried plugging the MM mic directly into the iRiver to verify that it does indeed send out a stereo signal, right?

[stantheman1976]

I got some new connectors today and it worked fine.  I must have screwed up one of the others at some point.