There are several threads asking about the Sony Control S Cable, which enables some of their receivers or preamps to act as a control for certain other components that do not have built-in infrared receivers. For example, my Sony TA-E77ES preamp has the socket for an S-Cable Out and I have it hooked up to my Sony ST-S730ES tuner's cable IN socket. The tuner also has a cable OUT socket, which allows you to daisy-chain to another component. However, I think my CD player and my cassette deck lack Control S sockets. I have separate remotes that operate them, so no need for another cable at this point.
I used one of 5 cables I bought a while back that were not Sony original cables (Part #1-558-233-11), as discussed in this and numerous other threads on the topic. Anyway, after buying a separate amp/preamp system, I wanted to be at least able to control the preset radio stations and that's what the S Cable allows me to do. Each of these short cables has metallic openings on the bottom, but I don't believe they are necessary for a proper connection -- maybe for whatever they were originally intended for. I put them in the socket with those openings down.
So I took one of these short (8-inch) four-wire cables and cut it in half and took an old four-wire phone cable I had lying around and cut off the connections and spliced half of the phone wire in between the halved substitute S Cable. I paid attention to the different colored phone wires: white with a faint blue stripe, solid blue, white with a faint red stripe and solid white to make sure they were the same for each side of my Franken-cable. Now I had a cable that could reach between the preamp and the tuner. The new cable is just under four feet, which is probably overkill, but if I change things around, I'll have enough length to reach in various configurations.
Anyway, long-winded story short, I grabbed my remote for the STR-GX10ES and it works to change presets on the tuner. I actually have two of these remotes because when I first bought the pre-amp I had to search around for the original remote for the TA-E77ES (or the TA-E77ESD) and I used the receiver remote to operate the preamp so I bought a second one. That allowed me to switch between components, although it didn't have a Tape 2 for my reel to reel. I use my Aux for streaming.
I finally found a RM-177D on the auction site in Germany for my preamp, but it is very basic and only switches between components connected to the preamp, as well as controlling volume, muting, Source Direct and Adapter. I paid through the nose for the "proper remote," but I wish I could have found the one for the TA-E77ESD because it is programmable and operates many more functions, similar to the STR-GX10ES remote. But those ESD remotes are even scarcer, and I am sure they are much pricier if they ever show up.
I didn't take photos of the completed Franken-cable, but I did take photos of the substitute S cable, the chunk of phone line and the two four-wire connectors I used. I forgot to take a photo of the completed one and didn't feel like digging around between the preamp and tuner again to take it out and take a photo. Some day. Anyway, all that work to control station presets on the tuner.
If I had a part number for these cables, I can't find one on the cable itself and I didn't save the email from that auction. They work if you can find something similar. I also have three original cables I got on the auction site, but I've hidden them from myself. I really like these lever connectors; I only had one-wire and two-wire ones, but I ordered some of the four-wire connectors from Amazon.
Without further adieu, photos:
