Duelund conversion to DIY Helix Geometry Cabling


I have been an avid user of the Duelund cabling for over two years now and have used them exclusively in my system with great results. I have built many for friends and have used a full loom of interconnects, speaker cables, power cords and an extensive wiring modification for a previously owned balanced power conditioner utilizing Duelund 600V PolyCast wiring which was transformative. My cabling desires can be a little addictive as I have owned and evaluated 40+ brands of cabling costing more than an entire stereo system!

Over the past six months I stumbled upon a thread here on Audiogon in regards to a Helix designed cabling and as you probably already know, I just had to look a little deeper into this cable design…After a month of studying and sourcing parts, I decided to reach out to the designer/architect, Williewonka who gave more insights and philosophy on how the cable came into existence.

That conversation got the ball rolling in converting one of my KLE Duelund interconnects to Steve’s Helix designed which only entailed replacing the neutral with a Mil-Spec 16 AWG silver-plated copper wire with the neural wire being 3 times longer than the signal wire and of course the “Coiling” of the neutral wire : )

After the modification was complete, I was not sure what to expect from the Helix cabling but I was quite shocked with the results with “ZERO” burn-in time…The sound stage became much wider/deeper with a much tighter/focused image and clarity/transparency is like nothing I have ever heard in any cabling regardless of cost. In fact, I just sold a full loom of a commercially designed Helix Cable that’s renowned around the world and has more direct sale than any cable manufacturer; these $200 DIY Helix Cables walked all over them…

I believe you will hear the same results as I have and have heard back from friends who have already modified their Duelunds with the same results; WOW! Remember the cables will need 200+ hours to burn-in and settle into your system. My system is now 90% DIY Helix to include IC, SC, PC and Coax with each cabling adding its beauty of an organic and natural presentation that draws you into the fabric of the music.

You can tailor the sound of your cables using Duelund, Mundorf silver/1% gold, the outstanding Vh Audio OCC Solid Copper or Silver with Airlok Insulation or your favorite wiring and you can change it at any time…

 

http://www.image99.net/blog/files/category-diy-cables.html

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/difference-in-sound-between-copper-and-silver-digital-cables

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/adding-shielding-to-existing-cables

 

Enjoy,

Wig


128x128wig
UPDATE- RE: the Classic RCA.

After about 100 hours there seemed to be no more improvements, but then the wires had been used for some weeks, so it was just the RCA’s and solder that needed burn-in

While this is a very capable RCA plug i.e. compared to the competition from other brands, it does not provide the same level of performance as the Pure harmony and Absolute harmony models.

Based on my previous auditions of the Silver harmony and Copper Harmony - I believe the performance to be between the Copper Harmony and the Silver harmony i.e. ON MY CABLES...
- bass was as deep, but a little less detailed & textured
- the top end was a little less crisp and lacked some fine details
- image was not quite as large and lost a little of the focus
- dynamics were a little slower - they lacked that crispness of the Absolute Harmony
- overall clarity was very good
- Venue acoustics, while present, lost a little of their sparkle
- there was no change in tonal quality - very neutral

I would definitely use the Classic RCA on my A/V system for either Analogue or Digital IC’s, or on a good second/office system.

If you have not tried the Harmony range, the Classic Harmony RCA will give you a very good indication of the sound you can achieve with the other RCA’s in the Harmony lineup

Hope you find this useful - Steve

.
I have been building ICs, USB and digital cables with the VH Audio 18 gauge solid core SILVER Airlock wire in place of copper and the difference is not small. In my system, and others of high quality, the sonic gains are substantial.

The realism and micro detail retrieval is substantially improved. My system is playing music with a new level of realism that I have never heard before. All of the full bodied bloom of copper is still there, but even more refined and resolving. I have not liked one single brand or type of silver conductor in my builds until I tried this VH Audio conductor. All the silver wire I had tried in the past just sounded too thin or lean. NOT the case with the 18 gauge VH Audio Silver solid core.

My system’s mids and highs are as smooth as butter. I cannot overstate how amazing the Double Helix builds are using VH Audio silver. Yes, I am talking about the double. I find this conductor better sonically
than the Mundorf silver/gold. The Mundorf lacks the bottom end heft and weight while sounding not as smooth and extended on top. The realism of the VH silver is also better.

Now, the cost of this silver conductor has almost doubled in price over the last month as silver is up. ($39 foot) So these are expensive builds, but the cables are outperforming $6000-$8000 branded cables in systems.

I have not heard any cable, at any price, sound this wonderful. I am sharing this for those looking for the best possible cabling for their high end system. I have only built ICs, digital cables and USB cables thus far. Speaker cables would be far too expensive for me with this wire. The silver wire was only used on the USB data wires and the positive runs in digital and IC cables. The 16 gauge, silver plated, stranded copper wire from Take Five Audio was used for the USB power ground and negative runs on the digital and IC cables.

Use WBT 4% silver solder and be sure to cover the twisted pair of 18 gauge VH silver used on the positive runs of the ICs and digital cables with two layers of unbleached pure cotton tubing to damp unwanted vibrations. I use 4-5mm cotton tubing and then a second 7mm covering. I also use KLE Absolute Harmony plugs for my RCA builds. On the double helix I use a 4 to 1 length ratio of TFA wire to VH Audio wire. For example, if building a 3 foot set of Double Helix ICs, then you would need two 12 foot lengths of the TFA wire in addition to the two 4 foot lengths of the VH Audio wire.

Grannyring built me an RCA Double Silver Helix Digital that makes my system so listenable and fatigue-free, I don’t want to leave the room.

I can attribute this by not only the nature of the Helix design, but the quality components used and build procedure described above.

It’s not "only" the usual descriptive of improvements wrought by it.

The entire soundscape from top to bottom is devoid of any digital artifact (jitter) which, in turn, allows music to emerge unscathed, in a quiet, smooth, natural, flowing form.

This, in turn, improves the frequency range from the lowest registers to the extreme highs and everything between.

I also had a very robust, Helix Power Cable made by member Aniwolfe, that I use for the main line coming into my Inakustik conditioner that works wonders eliminating AC noise issues, can’t speak highly enough about it.
Power Cable Update.

So today I just completed the last Power Cable upgrade - to the Neotech OCC 12 gauge solid copper.

So basically from the outlet I have...
- 1 x 11ft extension cables with 12 gauge Neotech wire in cotton insulation, that has a dual outlet in a box on the end of it
- 1 x 12 gauge Neotech OCC 12 gauge with cotton insulation into my amp
- 1 x 12 gauge Neotech  OCC 12 gauge with PVC insulation into my Power Distribution box

From the distribution box I have
- 1 x 18 gauge solid silver VH Audio to my Phono stage
- 1 x 18 gauge solid silver VH Audio to my Bluesound Node 2i

The neutral and ground wires are all 12 gauge Silver plated Mil-soec

The change from the last report is - I now use bare Neotech wire with a PVC insulation...
- I purchased the Neotech with Teflon insulation and stripped the insulation
- The PVC insulation is simply clear plastic pipe from the hardware store - cost me $1.35 CDN for 5 ft - much cheeper than Teflon tube

The tube is about 5 mm thick with an internal diameter of 3mm

I did try setting it alight to ensure it was not a fire hazard - it resisted the test nicely.

Bottom line - the system again instantly responded with an even better and more spacious image - pretty much 3D, including the perception of height.

I would assume teflon would have the same effect - but at around 30 times the price - ouch!

I think the advantage here is the amount of Air around the bare wire.

The biggest advantage of using the PVC pipe - the live wire is now better  protected from accidental spills

I think I'll change the other PC's that have cotton insulation - just to be safe :-)

Regards - Steve


@grannyring - congrats on the upgrade to VH Audio Solid silver. Sounds like it was worth the effort and expense.

I've used a single strand of the VH Audio 18 gauge for the live conductor in the Power Cables to the source components - today I heard their benefit when I upgraded my last power cable - what an improvement!

 @rx8man - glad to hear you too are having a very positive Helix experience.

The Helix excitement just keeps building - thanks to everyone for your efforts and courage for making the Leap to "The Helix"

And a special thanks to those members that are building the cables for other people - much appreciated.

Regards - Steve.