My Sennheiser HD 202 headphones developed a short in one channel about ~8" from the plug. I cut the wire before and afterwards, joined the wire, tested and didn't experience any sound. I disconnected the splice and attached the bear wires from one side of the headphones to a pair of wires entering a speaker on my home system. No sound. I cut another 10" off and tested that section for resistance - that failed (all 4 wires joined on both sides of the 10" section). The phones aren't designed with maintenance in mind so I can't do a resistance test at the speaker ends.

Maybe this has something to do with the wire used in the headphones. There are two pairs (red/copper, green/copper) of stranded copper wrapped around nylon fibers. Does this type of wire have a proper name or require special considerations when splicing?

Was attaching these wires onto my home speaker out a valid test? Ugh, splice fail ... I'm not a 10 year old girl but today I feel like one ....