Speaker Cord Wonky
 

The left speaker is going in and out, and it's got to the point that it's almost impossible to get it to work. Fiddling with the cord going from the right speaker into the actual computer jack can get it to work, but it's getting harder and harder to fix it. Now I've got it kind of working but the left speaker is clearly at about half-volume.

I'm sure there's a ****ed up wire in the cord (not the one going from the left speaker to the right, just the one going from the right to the computer jack), and I'm wondering if there's some kind of ghetto way to jury rig it. I can kind of see somewhere near the end of the jack (where it goes into the computer) that looks like it's kind of squeezed in, and fiddling with that end seems to have the best (only) results. I know nothing about stripping wires and fixing stuff that way, and I can't even be sure I have a soldering iron. Is it easy and worth it to try?

I know whatever I do, I'm probably gonna just have to replace the cord itself at some point, but I'd like to put this off as long as possible. As ghetto as the speakers are, they've got some good volume, and hella bass, and I suspect getting new ones that have the same "quality" would be kinda hard, so fixing/getting a new cord would probably be preferable. Most computer speakers are just pieces of ****; I think I just kind of lucked out with some decent ones.

Is it worth it to try to fix it, or go to Radioshack? Or should I just admit defeat and get new speakers, praying they don't suck?

Such is the nature of stranded wires, they're preferred because of their flexibility but the compromise always means shorter lifespan, they break and fray much faster than solid wire. Unless you actually want to replace the length of cord yourself (which means cutting it at each end before the plugs, finding some stranded wire of similar gauge, stripping back the remaining cord length at the speaker and jack without accidentally chopping the remaining wires up, splicing the old remaining wires to the new length of wire, and heat shrinking or taping it up, and then hoping it was the wires that were the problem in the first place and not actually the plugs) then you're looking at buying a new set of speakers. **** happens, stuff breaks. You could always try fixing it first, it'll be fun anyway, provided you don't have to go out and buy wire strippers, wire, and electrical tape etc. You don't have to solder the wires if you don't have a soldering iron / solder laying around (unless you're trying to fix the actual plugs), it's just a more reliable way of making connections, you could easily get away with simply twisting the wires together nicely for at least a temporary fix.

Think I have wire strippers, don't know about electrical tape, but I'm pretty sure I don't have any spare wire handy. Probably just gonna spend ten bucks or whatever for a new one at Radioshack. I could get new speakers, but mine, while their sound is kind of sketchy as they're probably almost twenty-years-old, still have a hell of a lot more volume and bass than any comp speakers I've ever heard. They're kind of like the Neighbor Hater version of computer speakers.

Try to avoid spending more than $10 if you can. It's really gonna suck if you go replace the wires and find out after that it's the connectors or the speaker jack.

I stopped reading here because I couldn't stop laughing

settle down, Beavis.