QuestionQUESTION: Hi Clegman, i stumbled upon your profile here looking for some desperately needed help.
We just got a new phone system and the hold music is used by hooking a external source to the box via single phono jack. I purchased a mp3 player, loaded it up, got a phono to phone cord with a mono adapter phono-1/8''. when i plugged it in, at first i thought it was not working at all, but when i listened closer, i could hear music barely, and it was intermittent. I called the phone company and explained the something was wrong with the new system, b/c the player worked fine with headphones. They came out and said it was this brand new player. I returned it and while waiting for the new one to come. I plugged my phone and ipod into the system and it worked great! I just got the replacement mp3 player of a different brand. Sansa clip 4gb - and it does the exact same thing. I have since changed the adapter to a phono to 1/8 stereo instead of mono. It still does not work and am at wits end trying to figure out why some player work and some do not? is it an adapter, cord issue. do they make small preamps for this problem? This has turned into a guessing game of buying mp3 players... Thanks for any feedback you may have. it is truly appreciated!
ANSWER: Could be the cable. Could be you did not insert it all the way. Could be you are shorting out the stereo output of the mp3 player when you plug into a mono jack, in which case you will need a stereo mini to mono phone, or modify the cable by clipping the shorted channel.
The mp3 player should work; my opinion is the problem is in the interface/cable connection between the two units.
Best wishes.
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QUESTION: i have already replaced the new cable (phone to phono) with another new cable; same issue. Like i said, some players work great, some dont... i tried to find a phono to mini stereo cable (all in one, no adapter) and can not seem to locate one? I can change the player, same cables/adapters, to say my cell phone music player, and it work great.. the current mp3 player at issue, is playing for a couple seconds, and then cutting out for a few, and playing again, so on.. this is the 3rd mp3 player from an online company whom will now not let me return it. I feel there is some kind of fix, or signal booster. do you know of anything like? Thanks for your time :)
AnswerI still think it is a cable problem; not a defective cable but a stereo to mono problem. When the stereo cable is connected to a mono input one channel is dead shorted which puts a short on the output circuit of the mp3 player. So, the channel connection must be lifted either in the cable, the input device or the output device.
I looked for a mini cable with stereo to mono but did not find easily; I know the used to make them because I have used them before.
You can try this if you know how to open up the hold music box and change the input jack to a stereo jack but not connect the inner connection on the jack which is causing the short circuit.
PS: You might try a mini mono to mini mono cable; if the output circuit of the mp3 player lifts the stereo ring it may work just fine. See this page and choose #1411:
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/parts/minicbl.html
