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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
tecknik
481 posts
 
Steve, how long of a neutral would you have on a dc cable 3 to 1 , 4 to 1 ?

thanks you
williewonka
3,067 posts
 
@tecknik With a 16 gauge neutral I would probably go for 4:1 ratio

@svampebob - just realized I did not fully answer all of your questions...
Do we know for sure, that the quality of the neutral matters as long as its resistance is lower than the signal wire?
I have tried a few wires for the neutral and until I tried the UP-OCC copper, the Silver Plated stranded Mil-Spec always seemed to perform the best.

But when I tried the UP-OCC copper for the neutral, the improvements were quite noticeable. I was also able to use a single wire as opposed to the double strand of mil-spec previously used.

So I believe the UP-OCC wires is capable of significantly better electrical transmission when compared to a double strand of Silver Plated mil-spec having the same gauge.

Using a double UP-OCC for the neutral may improve things even further, especially on high end components.

Hope that helps - Steve
svampebob
11 posts
 
Thanks Steve! Afraid I can't afford up-occ for the neutral at the moment, so damn many meters required...

I use an active crossover so I have separate helix cables for the tweeter and the woofer. Currently the signal wire for both is the Neotech 14. I am close to using all of these on the woofers (double runs of the 14), and buying some Neotech 18 for the tweeters. Would anyone have an opinion if this gauge is enough for above 1600Hz? I see the tweeter signal doesn't contain much energy, so I would think it is enough. Thanks.

And - just a cheap tweak that worked great for me, in case someone streams and hasn't optimized their ethernet chain (or don't believe in that stuff); get a cheap d-link dgs-105 (20$ or something) and put it between your router/AP and streamer, preferably close to the streamer I believe. Put a good 5v power supply on it, and be sure to ground it at the back. For me, this was what convinced me that a bit is definetly not just a bit. The helix speaker cables will reveal such changes mercilessly, but you probably already know  ;-) 
williewonka
3,067 posts
 
I've used as small as 1 x 16 gauge for the speaker cable live on cables that handle 20 - 20k and found it adequate.

But using a double signal wire is better - so I would think 2 x 18 gauge UP-OCC for > 1600Hz should suffice.

Regards - Steve
williewonka
3,067 posts
 
TARNISH UPDATE !
I have been asked a few times about tarnishing of bare silver and copper wire used in cables

I have a piece of bare UP-OCC copper wire and a piece of bare Mundorf silver wire (+1% gold) that have been exposed to the room atmosphere for around 6 months now.
  • The Mundorf silver wire now has quite a dark colour gray
  • And the UP-OCC copper is a dull red colour
Compared to..
  • The silver plating on my plugs/RCA's/Banana plugs is still a bright silver
  • the copper wiring inside the teflon tubes of my cables  is still very bright
It would appear that placing the wire inside a Teflon tube and sealing the ends with heat shrink or hot glue does an excellent job of preventing tarnish build up.

I cannot explain why the silver plated plugs are not tarnishing at the same rate as the Mundorf Silver wire - perhaps the quality of the silver used?

Hope that helps

Regards - steve
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