I have just heard that Shunyata has started shipping the Helix powersnakes series and that prices are largely unchanged from the old snakes.
Showing 15 responses by guidocorona
Yes, it looks like Shunyata has posted info on its new Helix series. The names of the PCs remains unchanged, with the word Helix now affixed to them. A technical description of sorts has been published by Shunyata at: http://www.shunyata.com/modeldriver.aspx?navitemid=2364 The principle appears to b that counterrotating spirals of conductors cause strands to cross at 90 degree angles, minimizing inductance and capacitance. The core of the PC is apparently hollow. I sure would like to read a comparison of a traditional Anaconda to a new Anaconda Helix. |
Jeremy, at this point there are only two things we can be reasonably comfortable forecasting: 1. The new Helix series will sound somewhat different from the old powersnakes. 2. The introduction of the new series may cause a number of current owners to sell their old wires and purchase the new corresponding Helix wires, causing an eventual slight drop in asking price for the old series on the used market. NOTE: In point 1 I deliberately state 'different' instead of 'better'. It's not that the Helix can't be 'better' than the old series, but rather that no one has reported their preferences and observations on the Helix line one way or another. |
[email protected], yours is good information, but does not seem specific to the new Helix series. It may be best for you to repost it to the PC flavor thread to: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?fcabl&1126482002&openmine&zzGuidocorona&4&5#Guidocorona |
Soundstage has just posted a review of the Orion Helix speaker cable and Antares Helix IC. Findings are intriguing if not definitive and may give some indication of the sound of the Helix PCs. See: http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/shunyata_antares_orion.htm In the meantime, tomorrow I may have the opportunity of comparing a Shunyata Python Helix VX with an Electraglide Epiphany. I will post my findings. Willster, the patent for the braided geometry used by Shunyata is not Shunyata's own, but it is applied under license. This may explain some of the usage of similarly braided geometries by other companies such as Siltech. |
Thank you very much Grant for the prompt correction. In the meantime, things are on for tomorrow's comparative auditioning of Python Helix VX, Tai-Pan Helix VX, Purist Venusta, Electraglide Epiphany. . . all will be used to power a well broken in Teac Esoteric X-01. Too bad we do not have an Anaconda Helix VX in the mix! |
Electraglide Epiphany vs. Shunyata Helix Python VX on Esoteric X-01 in brief: Epiphany: Sonically grand, Giant outwardly layered sound stage, forward, energetic fast transients, energetic treble, overlapping large instrument images. Attenuated sustained bass and mid bass Can sound chesty on bowed cello. Impressive on plucked strings and percussive music. Treble energy may sound excessive to some listeners. Shunyata Helix Python VX: Extremely musical and controlled, Moderately large sound stage, moderately recessed and three-dimensional, realistic transients, treble to bass extended but controlled, instrument images extremely well defined with 'air' around them, significant amounts of low level instrument and hall decay. No glare. Bowd cello moderately resonant on all 4 strings. Appears to require slightly more linestage gain than Epiphany. Slightly layed back compared to Epiphany for some listeners. We all seemed to concur that Python is overall more 'musical' than Epiphany, while Epiphany is more 'impressive'. In an ideal world we would like to experience the sheer grandness of the Epiphany combined with the musicality, controlled extension, precise and graceful imaging and sweetness of the Helix Python. Would the Anaconda Helix VX be perhaps the solution? Or perhaps the Anaconda helix Alpha, as the X-01 may perhaps not require the extra filtration provided by the VX series? More testing is required. If the choices were only the two cables tested, Babybear would prefer to live with the Epiphany, while Guido and CMO would feel happier with the Python Helix VX. Overall system consisted of the following components/wires: Teac Esoteric X-01, powered by both Epiphany and Python Helix VX. VAC Ren II powered by Shunyata Anaconda Alpha (non Helix). Theta Citadels powered by Elrod Statement 1. Vandersteen 5A. Ics were all AudioQuest Sky XLR. Speaker wire were Audio Quest Kilimanjaro biwire shot gun.. Power for all components was regenerated by Exact Power EP15A units. |
I would like to add some more comments about the perceived sound staging differences between Epiphany and Python Helix VX. CMO Babybear and I agreed that the stage of Electraglide was huge and layered in the three dimensions. It appear to start perhaps slightly forward of the speakers and extend well behind, Left to right it also seem to exceed the speakers boundaries by several feet. There was finally a great sense of height of the stage. With the Python Helix the impression was that the stage had been pushed further behind, with the perceived width and height shrunk following the rules of perspective, the width now being that of the outer sides of the speakers and the height proportionally shorter. However, while CMO and I perceived the depth and image layering only to have shrunk proportionally, Babybear felt there was a disproportionate collapse in depth and layering, and that the Python Helix soundstage had become essentially flat and two dimensional. It will be interesting to audition the Anaconda Helixes, as one of the differences I recall between the original Anacondas and Pythons chords in the past was the perceivable differences in size, depth and positioning of the respective sound stage. |
Amperidian, good point about settling in. The Epiphany had been on the system for a few months, while our application of the Python lasted 3 hrs from start to end. In spite of the disfavorable test conditions I do prefer the Python Helix to the Epiphany. Yet, these are both amazing chords, and Babybear preference for the Epiphany on his own system is as valid as mine for the Python. When we finally test the Anacondas, I hope to do it also on my own system, without any power conditioning. My final testing will take place in several more months, after acquiring and dutyfully breaking in a new line stage, probably an ARC Ref 3. Guido |
I had a recent opportunity to compare the original Anaconda Alpha with the new Anaconda Helix Alpha. The 6 ft long chords were used to power Babybear's Teac Esoteric X-01. To test the effect of the chords we used several SACDs of Jazz music to gage transient response and staging, as well as three CD disks of string music to gage behavior on sostenuto extension and micro dynamics throughout the spectrum: Edgar Meyer playing Bach's Suite No. 5 on double bass, Georg Piatigorsky on cello playing Dvorak's cello concerto, and Lara St. John on Bach's partita No. 3 for violin. As some of you know, the Anaconda Alpha has been my favorite PC for c.ca 16 months, since I heard it for the first time in NYC during the summer of 2004. No longer so: it has been super seeded in my heart by the Anaconda helix Alpha. . . and the difference between the two chord was quite remarkable on all cuts. As much as I love the original Anaconda, it was still creating some residual sheen or glare on treble and mids, as well as some 3rd harmonic distortion or overpressure in the lowest register of the double bass which was perceived as a 'wolf' note. Changing to the Helix was as if we had illuminated the instruments with a polarized light source, or if the image of the instruments was now coming to us through a polarizing filter. The residual sheen was gone, and the overpressure on some bass notes was gone as well. There was now much more the sense of being in front of actual performers in a venue with well controlled acoustics with even more subtle nuances becoming real and solid, rather than in front of a terrific recording of the same. It is very difficult to categorize the Helix as either neutral or warm, or in between. Rather, it sounds exceedingly transparent or unburdened and it caused me to sink deeper into the armchair with the increased suspension of disbelief. With Helix, initially we had the superficial impression that we were hearing less treble detail, yet to closer examination, this initial impression appeared to be deceptive: there was in fact plenty of treble detail, even more than with the original Anaconda, yet we were feeling at the same time that with the Helix notes were not thrown at us through an artificial overpressure. True enough instrument images with the Helix were slightly smaller and more 'solid' than with the original Anaconda, in the same way that a well focused image in a photograph looks slightly smaller and sturdier than its out-of-focus counterpart. A final analogy I can make is that of watching an aquarium filled with exotic fishes from the room it sits in: with the Helix you would have the sensation that all lighting in the room is turned off, and you would see the inside of the tank as if there were no intervening glass panes. With the original anaconda the image of the fishes would still be vivid, but it was as if moderate lighting had been turned on in the room, so that the crystal walls of the tank had suddenly become real, and because of their soft reflections of the room lighting they were somewhat inhibiting your enjoyment of the view of the marine life. The Anaconda helix Alpha appeared to produced slightly softer transients than the original: while I call these more realistic, some may prefer the more explosive nature of transients in the original. And finally while I much prefer the completely unadorned view of the music of the Helix, so largely devoid of any sonic 'lensing' effects, I am sure that some will prefer the slightly more hifi-ish presentation of the original, or the even glittery presentations of other chords. |
I have just posted a relatively detailed listening comparison of the Shunyata Anaconda Helix Alpha and Anaconda Helix VX on a thread entitled "A Tale Of Two. . . Anacondas (Helix)". You will find it at: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?fcabl&1146623467&openfrom&1&4#1 For the comparison Babybear and I connected the Anacondas to the X-01 Limited in his system. |