Make your own TRS (headphone) to RCA audio cable

I like to re-use old equipment whenever possible. Mostly because it gives me the opportunity to hack away at it until it suits my needs. This is one such case....

Most portable media players come with a 3.5mm TRS audio jack socket that is intended to play stereo sound on a sound system or headphones. Which is great, except I had an old surround sound system that only used RCA connections...

The TSR socket is the image on the left. The RSA sockets are on the right.

Let's get into the technical differences between each of these connection types:

• The TSR cable can carry both channels of a stereo signal (the left and right channels). It can also be 'balanced', which is just a fancy way of saying that it is protected from external noise. All of these properties are possible because of the unique configuration of the plug, which is segmented into a Tip, Ring and a Sleeve (if you have been paying attention, that's where the TRS acronym originated).
  

  

  Cut away view of a TSR jack plug showing the Tip, Ring and Sleeve.

  For portable media players the TSR connection is unbalanced, with the Left channel transmitted through the Tip and the Right channel transmitted through the Ring. The Sleeve is used as a common ground for both channels.
• RCA connections can only carry one signal and are always unbalanced.
  
  

Now we know the rough anatomy of the connectors we can now hack our own cable! For this guide, we will need one (1) TSR plug and two (2) RCA plugs. This is because the TSR will carry two channels, which we will distribute over the two RCA connectors (each RCA plug can only carry one channel).

1. Chop off one end of the TSR cable. You can discard the other end (or keep it for later...). Strip and and solder the end.
   

   

   I just opened up my extra plug so I could see inside it (as well as know which channel is which)

2. Chop off two RCA plugs, leaving just enough wire so that we can strip it for our connection. Strip and and solder the end.
3. You should now have the following:
   

   

   From Left-to-Right: The stripped end of the TSR plug (you should see three wires); The TSR plug; The stripped end of the RCA plug; The RCA plug

4. Connect the signal wire of each RCA plug to a TSR signal channel. For instance, one RCA signal wire will be connected to the TSR Tip wire for the left channel. The other RCA signal wire will be connected to the TSR Ring wire for the right channel.
   
   Both RCA ground wires are to be connected to the TSR sleeve wire. YOU SHOULD TEST BEFORE SOLDERING!
   

   

   Testing the set-up...

5. Once you have tested it all out, solder the connections and viola! You now have a TSR-to-RCA cable!

Hope this helps someone out there!!!

References:

• THE ULTIMATE AUDIO WIRING GUIDE by rane.com
• Jack plugs and socket reference by leadsdirect.co.uk
• RCA reference by pinoutsguide.com
• TRS reference by pinouts.ru
• Wiring guide for the TRS connector by suite101.com