Red Blue Gold (New Speaker Wire?)

Anyone know anything about this (apparently new?) speaker wire?

"Red, Blue, Gold"

Image Below:



Used on my headphones (the wire was cut and i'm attempting to repair it).

It seems to be fabric coated? (allowing the wires to touch one another without shorting out?)

I'm hoping to connect this wire to a standard "Red/Black" speaker wire (which already has a 1/4" tip connected to the other end.)

I'm assuming this type of wire is somewhat new? (I cannot find much information pertaining to it online).

Any information is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
-Pick

Waldorf, MD

Well it's not 'speaker' wire, and it's not new either - it's a highly flexible cable used for headphones and has been used for decades. It's also an absolute nightmare to try and solder to.

It's three wires, so ground, left and right for stereo - colours?, could be anything you simply need to test them.

It looks like "Tinsel wire", to use an old nickname...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinsel_wire

If it is that, one way to get it ready for soldering is to use a small gas flame, eg. a cigarette lighter.

One at a time, grip the end of a wire with something such as pliers or tweezers and move it across through the centre of the flame, about eg. half an inch from the end of the wire.

Get someone else to hold the lighter for you.

If you get it right, it burns away the plastic or fibre parts and leaves clean, bright metal, which you can then tin with flux cored solder.
Only trim the excess off after tinning it, otherwise it usually unravels and shreds itself...

To find out which wire is which, connect a 1.5V battery (eg. an AA cell) briefly across two wires and see which earpiece clicks.
If both do, you are between left and right. Use the other wire.
The "shared" wire, when you get a click with that and one or other of the remaining wires, is the ground. Left & right are then obvious.