2. cables
  3. 156742-1458

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

Showing 3 responses by roberttdid

roberttdid
534 posts
 
Would it be wrong to point out that you have pretty much built an inductor?  This geometry will not reduce magnetic interference by the way, it would probably make it worse. This is how spark plug wires are wound in order to create high inductance in order to reduce transmission of high frequencies in the wire itself.


If this provides you more listening enjoyment, then absolutely you should do it, but you should also be cognizant of what you are creating.


w.r.t. a power cord, contrary to what many believe, inductance in a power cord is probably better in many cases. Those high "peaks" they carry high frequencies that the power supply is not great at filtering. Amplifiers usually have inductive filters on the AC to soften those peaks.
roberttdid
534 posts
 
Unless you measured the volume level, this is almost the same as random. We can't remember volume levels with any accuracy and a few db of volume could be many degrees of temperature on the heat sinks.
similar volume level

Your cable is not going to make a bit of difference to the temp of the Powernode. It has a switching supply and nothing your cable does is going to make any difference to the efficiency except maybe make it worse.

w.r.t. the IR thermometer, they don't work well on anodized aluminum. Even on black anodized they are not very accurate. The only way to get accurate results on aluminum is to put paint on it, though a heavy permanent market can work okay as well.
roberttdid
534 posts
 
I was careful in my wording about magnetic interference. Grabbing a cable with your hand is electrostatic interference predominantly and the helix winding will help just like a coax cable will help.  Where it won't is say near a transformer in an aluminum case, or other incidences of magnetic coupling.


WRT Your comment about the coil not reducing magnetic interference - I tried a simple test back in time, to verify the effectiveness of the Helix coil for this purpose...
- I selected my phono stage on my amp
- I turned the volume to full
- I held in my clenched fist a standard power cable and a Helix IC connecting the TT to the phono stage
- I observed hum
- I repeated the same process but using the helix power cable and the same Helix IC
- the hum was reduced significantly to almost zero


Keep in mind, I am not knocking the sonic outcome, I am just describing what is happening.

w.r.t. your equipment running "cooler", I am skeptical, but may I ask, is you amplifier Class-A?  How did you measure the temperature?  If it was with one of those IR ones, they can vary a lot if not used properly.

One interesting thing with adding a large inductor in series with a linear power supply is that the output voltage of the linear power supply will drop. Lower output voltage = lower heat.  I doubt you are adding enough inductance to achieve this though.  You are also adding resistance with the longer wire which also will lower the voltage.  Then again, the AC may have been 115 one day, and 125 the other day when you measured the temps.
More to discover