AKG K550 Headphone repair

[cncjerry]

so I kept getting my feet wrapped in my AKG K550 headphone cord and finally I had a problem with a connection.  I re-soldered the wires and just couldn't find the problem.  Finally I found that the wire that looped to the other ear was broken at one connection to a thin copper ribbon cable.  It couldn't be repaired as there was no room.  The ribbon cable slips inside a flat channel that covers it so the sliding headphone adjustments wont wear on it.  I tried using a piece of expensive flat speaker cable made for slipping under rugs.  It just about fit.  I guess I could have flattened it in a machine vise but didn't think of that until now.

Anyway, here's the picture of the flat cable needed.  It is about a foot long with two solder pads.  I can double it back and make the pads if I can find the cable.  It's really thin, probably .010" and I'll measure that thickness if needed.

I called AKG and they only sell accessories.  I can see why because reconditioned units are only around $100 now, about half what I paid for them on sale years ago. I probably have half that in the speaker wire I used. I looped the speaker wire outside the channels for now.  They are decent phones and I recently replaced the ear pads.  So yes, I know I should pitch them it's just that I've grown accustomed to their sound.  I have other phones, bose, etc noise canceling types that hiss a lot and I have to have a wired connection to my keyboards.

Anyway, I've looked around for the ribbon cable.  Any ideas?

Thanks,

Jerry

[GLouie]

Try contacting a pro audio dealer like Full Compass or Sweetwater. They often carry parts not widely advertised or can get them.

Sadly, AKG has been reorganized in recent years after Samsung bought Harman, and seems to be a shadow of its former self. I understand most of the engineers in Austria (not Australia) were laid off, so they formed a new company, Austrian Audio.