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
I now have a pair of 3 1/2 ft and 5 ft helix interconnects, 4 ft speaker cables, and one 3 ft PC in my system. Yikes, I can’t believe how good these are. The interconnects have about 125 hours on them as does the PC. The speaker cables went in last night and I listened with only 30 minutes on them. The SCs made a huge difference in the bass and modest to very good difference in other areas like imaging, clarity, sense of space, etc. However, the SCs need burn in as there is a bit of harshness. All my cables are double double. Which brings me to a question.

Steve, why the single 10 awg instead of double 12 awg on your speaker cables?

Thanks,Chris
Chris - when I first started building the cables I found that having a neutral  wire that was thicker than the signal wire provided sonic improvements, so I adopted an approach to use a gauge that was twice the gauge of the signal wire across all cables.

Back then I only used s single conductor for signal and neutral wires

When I first built the speaker cables I used a 12 gauge SIGNAL wire
  • this meant I required a larger NEUTRAL wire that was approximately 2 times the gauge of the signal wire
  • so my choice was a 10 gauge wire - since I could not find a 9 gauge wire :-)

The power cables are a little different because I do use 2 x 12 for the neutral, mainly because
  • having a single 10 gauge NEUTRAL together with a 12 gauge ground would look odd.
  • Also the 1 x 12 gauge ground wire fills in the space between the windings, which keeps the two neutral wires together.
  • the windings are closer together so it looks neat and tidy

A 2 x 12 gauge can be used on the speaker cables without any sonic  issues - I do know people that have used 2 x 12 gauge and they reported it worked very well.

However, the 10 gauge wire holds the helix shape very well and you can space the coils more evenly...
  • whereas the 2 x 12 gauge would not look as "nice" because you have no way in keeping the two coils together for the length of the cable - it just looks untidy 
  • also, at the back of an audio rack where there could be many wires in place,  having additional coils could get caught on those wires - so I kept it simple - ONE 10 Gauge coil on the speaker cable.

Hope that helps - Steve









Steve, Thanks very much for the reply. I figured as much but because you’ve been at it much longer than I have, I wanted a clear answer. I like the single 10awg and will use it on the next pair of speaker cables I make.

Cheers, Chris
Steve, I have ordered Mil Spec from Skycraft. Good service, quick shipping.
@nwres - that's good for US customers. Unfortunately the do not export - not even to Canada - shame :-(

From their web site...
Exportation Policy

Sorry, no international sales. We are not an exporting company. We have no exporting license, and, because we often deal with govt./ military surplus, we do not want to give even the impression that we are selling abroad (including Canada and Mexico).


Regards - Steve