Is not me who has the website, it is williewonka .
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
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@kurt12k - this link has links to the cables you require... http://www.image99.net/blog/files/category-diy-cables.html Any questions - just ask :-) Regards - Steve |
@kurt12k The required gauge is determined by your Amp power rating and impedance of your speakers; my current system is a 4.5 Watts 2A3 SET DHT and 15" Full Range drivers. I’m running 2 single runs of Vh 18 Ga OCC solid copper with Airlok which has a combine aggregate of 16 AWG which is quite efficient for my setup and one could double that for an aggregate of 12 AWG, which would suit most amplifiers. Even with 4 runs of 18 Ga OCC and factoring in price performance ratios, you would have to spend over $1.8K and still not beat this DIY Helix Cable. Wig |
@kurt12k - history has us believing that for speaker cables, generally a thicker gauge provides better performance. Numerous cases of using a thicker gauge wire have proven to be beneficial, primarily because a thicker cable reduces the overall resistance. Fast forward to this point in time and we now know much more... - solid strands of wire is able to carry more current than stranded wire - insulation (i.e. the dielectric constant) is responsible for a lot more distortions within the wire itself than previously thought - the lower the D.C. the better - higher quality copper (or silver) in wire provides better conduction of the signal, both in dynamics and clarity So if you look at the current carrying ability of a generic 18 gauge solid strand copper wire you will see it can carry far more current than the same gauge of stranded wire - see this link... https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wire-gauges-d_419.html READERS PLEASE NOTE: The values cited in the table and the example below, should only be used as an "approximation", because there are many other factors to consider with AC signals of varying frequencies. But for the sake of simplicity - to get a "rough approximation" of the power handling capabilities of an 18 gauge solid core wire - the chart shows it can "handle" 9.5 amps so if we were to use this 18 gauge wire for mains purposes i.e. in a 120 v circuit - we know that V x A = (Watts), - so 120 x 9.5 = 1,140 (Watts) So it looks like 18 gauge would handle significantly higher capacities than a large percentage of amps on the market would require? - However, with an audio signal there are very large dynamic transient peaks that have to be considered AND also varying frequencies - which complicates matters So for most speaker cable applications I recommend using at least two strands of the 18 gauge solid copper wire from VH Audio, gently twisted together - effectively, 15 gauge.. NOTE: If you are using an amp > 600 watts output, with a 4 ohm (or lower) speaker load, I would recommend 3 strands. Otherwise, using more strands will probably not achieve much in the way of noticeable improvements when used in the cables that use the Helix geometry.. You could use strands of 18 gauge Solid Silver, for ultimate performance, but I think you will be entering the world of "diminishing returns". My focus is on "Bang for the Buck", so I tend to select wire combinations that perform very well, but keep the cables on the "more affordable" side of crazy.. I have conducted tests comparing an identical 16 gauge stranded signal wire to a 12 gauge stranded signal wire and there were no perceivable improvements observed in my system using the thicker gauge wire. Also - For many years I used a high quality 10 gauge speaker cable, until I auditioned a 16 gauge speaker cable with a larger gauge neutral. - The 16 gauge outperformed the 10 gauge in every aspect we tend to use to evaluate sound quality, including bass fullness, bass depth and bass speed - i.e. the metrics often cited as being noticeably improved when using a larger gauge cable. FYI: My amp is a 135 watt per channel high current design and my speakers are full range 6 ohm towers. Ultimately, the choice is yours - and whatever your budget will allow :-) Hope that helps - regards - Steve |
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