Duelund conversion to DIY Helix Geometry Cabling

Hello.

I did a rough implementation of the Helix speaker wires to test out the geometry and liked the results. I am now looking to build a Helix power cord and single ended interconnects with the materials in the recipe, and before buying the materials I wanted to check if Helix power cords and interconnects a good choice for SETs?

@lewinskih01 - assuming you mean Single Ended Triode amps...

To my knowledge - Cables using the Helix design do not perform well under the following circumstances...

Helix Speaker cables

• when connceting to Amplifiers that are designed using a symetric balanced output architecture
  • where the speaker terminals have the same output signals, but they are 180 degrees out of phase

Helix Power cables

• when connecting to power sources that provide only a balanced output
  • i.e. where the "live" and the "neutral" have the same voltage, but they are 180 degrees out of phase
  • such as some power conditioners and power regenration units
  • the Power Grid in Norway is fully balanced

The electrical "spec’s" of the Helix cables are "middle of the road" for capacitance and inductance values, so they are suited to a wide variety of amplifiers and speakers

Other than in the two cases mentioned above, I do not see any reason why he cables would not perform extremely well,

• and since you have already protyped a Helix cable and achieved promising results, I see no reason for not proceeding.

The latest adaption usin solid UP-OCC silver wire for the interconnect signal wires should prove to be an excellent cable for your SET amp

Regards - Steve

Thank you Steve! Indeed I meant single ended triodes.

Great input, and food for thought. I do have a balanced power conditioner, so will build one PC and try connecting the SET straight into the wall. Now I know I should look for alternative architectures for the power cords feeding the other components.

Regards, Horacio

@williewonka  Well, your conversation in regard to using balanced power conditioners with the Helix PC caught my attention. I'm presently using Helix non-symmetrical with both my dac and active pre on BPT 3.5 Sig. balanced power conditioner. These using VH Audio Airlock  on live and Take 5 Milspec for neutral. I've never given a thought to using asymmetrical Helix PC, what now seems so obvious totally eluded me till now. So, now I get to build symmetrical Helix PC to compare with present Helix.

What is your favorite recipe for a balanced Helix PC? My present Helix run 3 strands of Airlock with relaxed twist for hot, two runs of Take Five with tight twist around the Airlock for neutral. Assuming I want to keep three Airlock with relaxed twist for hot, how do construct Airlock for neutral?

@sns and @lewinskih01 - Interestingly enough, another member has just built a balanced power cable and he likes what he hears.

Basically, you have identical live and neutral conductors inside the helix coil, where the helix coil is the ground wire

1. Both live and ground conductors could be formed from 2 x 16 or 2 x 18 gauge UP-OCC bare wires, where each wire is inside a teflon tube
   • I would use a reverse twist on one of the conductors to mitigate some of the induction process e.g.
     • Live conductor would twist clockwise
     • Neutral conductor would twist anti-clockwise
     • Use a relaxed twist - i.e. one complete twist every 3"-4"
   • the 2 x 18 gauge live and neutral conductors should easily fit inside a helix coil made with a 5/16" rod,
   • but I am not sure about the 2 x 16 gauge version - it might
   • If your amp requires a large current draw then use 2 x 14 gauge wires
2. or alternately you could use the 2 x 18 gauge UP-OCC wire from VH Audio with the Airlok inuskation for the Live and Neutral
   • ​​​​​​​but using this method I would insert each twisted pair of conductors insitde a cotton sleeve to add some space between them

For both versions I would use a double coil ground conductor made from 2 x 14 gauge.. I think this would provide a better faraday cage effect to shield the Live and Neutral condctors

Personally - I would opt for #1, but #2 is a little easier to fabricate and the difference in performance would be small

Would it bs as good as the asymmetrical Helix PC used with a normal house supply?

• I do not think so because you still have the two conductors laying side by side, but the reverse twist on one conductor should help
• but using UP-OCC copper inside the teflon tubes will certainly sound much better than most branded products
• The key here is that you are using UP-OCC copper and if you use the teflon tube as the insulation then the impact of distortions from the insulation is minimized

If DIY is not an option then I would highy recommend Zavfino cables - they aill work very well with balanced power supplies and they use UP-OCC wires

Hope that helps - Steve