audio input jack messing up cords i plug into it

briangle

Honorable
Nov 21, 2013
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10,510
my new car stereo is messing up cords i use to connect my mp3 player to it. at first it works okay, then it gradually gets worse, then if if switch the cord around, the new head will work on in the stereo, but the damaged one is funky in my ipod.
the guy who installed it gave me a really bad vibe, on top of him charging me 5$ for parts that he couldn't name. so maybe he messed up the jack somehow?
i tried cleaning it out with alcohol/cutip.
any other ideas?
thanks
 
Solution
what do you mean by "messing up the cable end" ?

this is the part that i'm confused about.

and you say that after it was in the headunit it is "funky in my ipod". what is that supposed to mean?

the cable itself is directly attached to the end with solder like this (its done a bit different for the molded cable ends in plastic but its generally the same idea).

earbud-stereo-jack-plug-wiring.jpg


there isnt anything to "mess up" there really. small scratches are normal since the plug must ride up against contacts on the inside of the female end.

perhaps the cable just works itself loose? you could try unplugging the cable and plugging it back in. or perhaps there is a manufacturing defect in...
what do you mean it gradually gets worse? and how when you switch the cord around the new side works.

are you saying that somehow the stereo is bending/wearing out the cable ends?

photos please if this is the case.

you might want to give us some more details to work with on what exactly the problem is.. is your ipod not playing through the cable or is the problem physically with the cable end getting loose after a few days.
 

briangle

Honorable
Nov 21, 2013
2
0
10,510


http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-DEH-150MP-Single-Stereo-Playback/dp/B0091V0A9U/ref=lp_226184_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1353957583&sr=1-3

this is the stereo model.

i have no idea what it is doing to the cable ends - i can see small scratches - very small. they don't look bad.
i will try to take a picture soon.

i am fairly sure the problem is that the input jack is messing up the cable end.
 
what do you mean by "messing up the cable end" ?

this is the part that i'm confused about.

and you say that after it was in the headunit it is "funky in my ipod". what is that supposed to mean?

the cable itself is directly attached to the end with solder like this (its done a bit different for the molded cable ends in plastic but its generally the same idea).

earbud-stereo-jack-plug-wiring.jpg


there isnt anything to "mess up" there really. small scratches are normal since the plug must ride up against contacts on the inside of the female end.

perhaps the cable just works itself loose? you could try unplugging the cable and plugging it back in. or perhaps there is a manufacturing defect in either the cable or the headunit and the two dont fit together with as close a tolerance as is normal.

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my guess would be either you have something non-standard with your 3.5mm cable or the headunit 3.5mm jack.

or it could be because of poor manufacturing on pioneers end (that particular unit gets a whole lot of bad reviews).

you can try a higher grade cable (try a different brand) but if you still have trouble its probably a flaw on the headunit side of things.

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still not sure why you think its messing up the cable ends or what you mean by it.
 
Solution