need a cable to listen to headphones with receiver

[mikespranger]

i'm sure this has been answered a billion times, but i must be using the wrong search terms....
i have my record player hooked up to a receiver that has the big headphone jack (i believe it's 1/4")
i bought a 3.5 mm to 1/4" cable on amazon i thought would work. it fits, but i can only hear anything when the headphones are plugged only 3/4 of the way into the adapter cable. and even then, if i twist or move the cable, the sound cuts out

what is the correct cable i need to buy?

 

[stereofanboy]

Standard headphone jack is 1/4. Typical portable device jack is 3.5, so what you have ought to work. Perhaps the headphone jack needs to be cleaned. Perhaps your brand new wire is defective. Those are the most likely scenarios that I can imagine.

Something else occurred to me. Portable devices used to use a 1/8 jack. That is very close to, but not exactly the same as 3.5. Maybe they accidentally sent you the wrong size. That could explain it suddenly cutting out when you move it.

 

[reydelaplaya]

i'm sure this has been answered a billion times, but i must be using the wrong search terms....
i have my record player hooked up to a receiver that has the big headphone jack (i believe it's 1/4")
i bought a 3.5 mm to 1/4" cable on amazon i thought would work. it fits, but i can only hear anything when the headphones are plugged only 3/4 of the way into the adapter cable. and even then, if i twist or move the cable, the sound cuts out

what is the correct cable i need to buy?

Make sure the cable you get is a stereo cable and not mono like a guitar cable. That may be the problem.

There should be 3 distinct metal parts at the large plug with two plastic rings separating them. You could also just get one of these plugs that reduces a 1/4 phono plug to 3.5mm headphone jack.

 

[N8Nagel]

^ yup and every time I order from Monoprice I seem to have to order a few of these

http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=104&cp_id=10429&cs_id=1042903&p_id=7169&seq=1&format=2

because I end up handing them out for party favors. Those and the 2xRCA to 3.5mm plug cords to hook up a phone or iPod to an old receiver.

If only Monoprice sold FM dipoles or some other sort of decent but cheap FM antenna...

 

[mikespranger]

Make sure the cable you get is a stereo cable and not mono like a guitar cable. That may be the problem.

There should be 3 distinct metal parts at the large plug with two plastic rings separating them. You could also just get one of these plugs that reduces a 1/4 phono plug to 3.5mm headphone jack.

Thanks everyone - i double checked, and it is 3.5 mm. i had bought the long cable as opposed to just an adapter plug because the headphones came with about a 3 foot cable.

problem isn't (i don't think) at the 1/4" end, it's where the 3.5mm plugs into the female end of the cord.