I am the unlucky owner of one of the earliest versions of noise
canceling headphones. Replacement exceeds cost of an equivalent pair
of noise canceling headphones. However, the speakers are still good
and I want to convert them to regular headphones. I need to know which
wires to clip to remove the background microphone.

Mike

Mike Berkowitz wrote:
I am the unlucky owner of one of the earliest versions of noise
canceling headphones. Replacement exceeds cost of an equivalent pair
of noise canceling headphones. However, the speakers are still good
and I want to convert them to regular headphones. I need to know which
wires to clip to remove the background microphone.

Mike



It should be fairly obvious if you open them up, you can bypass the
circuit board entirely. Could probably fix the noise canceling circuit
pretty easily though, it's what I'd do, noise canceling headphones
aren't cheap.

On Fri, 16 May 2008 03:02:52 GMT, James Sweet
wrote:


Mike Berkowitz wrote:
I am the unlucky owner of one of the earliest versions of noise
canceling headphones. Replacement exceeds cost of an equivalent pair
of noise canceling headphones. However, the speakers are still good
and I want to convert them to regular headphones. I need to know which
wires to clip to remove the background microphone.

Mike



It should be fairly obvious if you open them up, you can bypass the
circuit board entirely. Could probably fix the noise canceling circuit
pretty easily though, it's what I'd do, noise canceling headphones
aren't cheap.

bypassing the circuit board was my first thought. But there is a
complication: there is a small circuit board right on the speaker
assembly that is not easily removed. There are 9 wires and I do not
know which is which. I lack a schematic and diagrams. I could use
trial and error I suppose. Besides, there is an amplifier integrated
into the circuit making these headphones work well with very low power
portable devices. I know I can ohm out the wires to trace where they
go inside the battery/electronics pack. The problem is not that they
are broken but that they cannot handle signals from common wireless
devices that did not exist when they were designed and built.
Replacement cost for a pair of Philips noise canceling headphones was
$79. They work better than the Bose headset. Bose wanted $150 to
replace/repair but would not promise the new ones would work any
better. So now I just hope to salvage the AMP and speakers.

Mike