Before you make your headphones you have to understand what is the 3 most important parts of the headphones you will be making.

The three most important parts of a speaker is the voice coil, the magnet, and the diaphragm. The voice coil is important because it strengthens the magnetic field and is a path for the electric current to travel through. The Magnet is important because it creates a magnetic field and it pulls and pushes the voice coil. The diaphragm is important because it amplifies the vibrations that are produced by the voice coil so it can push sound waves out of the headphones.

Step 1: Gather Materials

Materials needed to create your own headphones:

1 Roll of 28 AWG wire (at least 10 meters needed)

Can be bought at Home Depot

1 Roll of electrical tape

Can be bought at Home Depot

1 Wire cutter

Can be bought at Home Depot

Scissors

Can be bought at Home Depot

1 Small glue stick

Can be bought at Home Depot

4 Small neodymium magnets (dime sized, 2 cm thick)

Can be bought at Home Depot

1 Regular tape roll

Can be bought at Home Depot

1 Aux plug (without wire)

Can be bought on Amazon

2 Plastic cups for headphone baskets

Can be bought at the 99 cent store

3 Alligator clips

Can be bought at Home Depot

Can use extra wire as a substitute

1 Piece of sandpaper

Can be bought at Home Depot

1 Stack of sticky notes

Can be bought at Home Depot

Step 2: Coiling

1. Start by wrapping a sticky note around the glue stick so it goes all the way around (As seen in photo)

Make sure the sticky part of the glue stick is facing yourself so it is on the glue stick but is not sticking to it

2. Depending on how many coil you would like cut about 1-4 yards of the wire.

For coiling I have found that the more coils you use, the clearer the sound is, and sometimes it is also louder

3. Use the electrical tape to tape one end of the wire to the lower part of the sticky note. Make sure it is just an inch that is taped

4. Hold the bottom of the wire while slowly wrapping the wire around the glue stick

Make sure you keep it tightly packed (as seen in the video)

5. Wrap until there is 1 inch left on the wire. Tape the entire coil down to the sticky note from the top of the coil to the bottom 4 times evenly spread out

This will hold the entire coil together

6. Slide the sticky note off of the glue stick with the coil still taped to it

7. Un-tape the end that you taped down to hold the coil. Cut excessive sticky note that is attached to the coil. Then tuck in the extra sticky note that you can’t cut

8. Tape down the wires so you only have the 2 wires hanging off

9. What you are now holding is a voice coil

Beats by Matthew (DIY headphones) - Step #2
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Step 3: Sanding

For step number three “Sanding” you will be sanding the tips of the voice coil.

This lets the coils transmit electricity between the multiple wires you will use

1. Start by grabbing the coil you just made and a piece of sandpaper

2. Put your finger in the middle so it doesn't come apart

3. Then with the sandpaper wipe all of the insulation off the wire

Make sure no insulation is left on the wire, it has to be completely wire, for this example there is no red left, do this again for a second coil

Beats by Matthew (DIY headphones) - Step #3
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Step 4: Creating a Headphone

In this step you will be creating one of the headphones for your speaker

1. Put the cup upside down so the open part is facing your table

2. Put one of the 4 magnets on the top of the cup and one on the bottom

3. Put the voice coil on top of the magnet

Make sure the magnet fits inside your voice coil

4. Tap down the voice coil to the cup with 2 pieces of electrical tape

5. What you are now holding is one of your headphones

Step 5: Testing

1. With your aux plug put one of the strands of sanded wire from the headphones in the hole of one side of the voice coil

2. Do the same for the other side but in the opposite hole

3. Plug the aux plug into your audio device

4. Play music

5. Hold the open part of the cup up to your ear

If you hear music you are finished with this step

6. Refer to the trouble shooting step

Step 6: Making the Other Headphone

You are here because the headphone worked. You now have a working "headphone", but if you want to make a headset continue with these steps.

REDO steps 1-5 for another headphone

Step 7: Connecting the Headset

1. Cut 2-4 wires that is long enough to go from one ear to the other ear

If you want the headset wires to go over your head, then, make the wires long enough to go from one ear over your head and back to the other ear, then for one of the wires extend it 6 inches

If you want the wire to go under your head then make the 4 wires as long as you want the wire to go down from the ear to where they connect. For 2 of the 4 wires make them 4-5 inches longer

2. Sand all ends of all wires

3. (Over head) Wrap one end of a wire to one voice coil end and the other to the other side of one voice coil. Make sure one is longer than the other

4. (Over head) Wrap the wire over your head and to the other side, the shorter side connect to the other voice coil on the other side. The longer one let dangle for now

5. (Over head) With the one long wire and the voice coil wire you can now connect those to your aux plug

5. (Under head) Wrap all wire ends to one voice coil end. Now connect under head the shorter ends of the two voice coils. Make them parallel to each other then twist the two sanded edges together

6. (Under head) Make the two longer pieces come down and wrap once the wire, this part should be unsanded. Then make it go down and connect it to your aux plug

Step 8: Testing (Again)

After you test it and it works move on to the next step.

If it didn't work move to the trouble shooting step

Step 9: Decoration

You can now decorate your headphones however you would like.

In my example I put my voice coils and magnets inside an old headset I had lying around. You can do all sorts of different things like use headbands or rice and decorate your headset. GO CRAZY, BE YOURSELF, MAKE YOUR HEADPHONES RESEMBLE WHO YOU ARE