The thin wires may be enameled - a dark coppery colour. If so the enamel coating (I call it that because I know no better) is an insulator - in the past when messing around with these super flexible audio cables - I have had to scrape off the surface coating and solder the wires together.
Of course - your problem may be something entirely different - see if you have this coating and see if you can scrape it off.
Good luck...
Peccavi, December 2012
