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
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.
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 |
Steve, is there a photo of how you terminate the solution with the tubes? Otherwise I guess it should be simple enough. I guess the length where the heat shrink directly touches the bare wire should be kept pretty short - 1cm? Do you think I can clean the bare copper with alcohol, just to get all grease and fingerprints off? I received enough wire to double run all drivers today. I ordered the neotech with pvc (SOCP) to save a bit of money. I found it pretty difficult to get the sleeve off, but got better at it, 8-10cm at a time. However getting it into the tube was surprisingly easy, slid right in. Don't have many impressions yet, and only did 1 run (not double), but sound is still great (going from SOCT 14AWG -> 18AWG in tube for just 1 of the tweeters). Now I have 7 more runs to finish, expectations are still high :-) Don't mean to derail the thread, but I also got 1m of Viablue EP-7s and 2 Telegartner 568B. EP-7s has a silver screen and solid core OFC wires, EP-7 has silver coated stranded OFC wires and copper screen - as I understand it. So the cable is nice solid core and quality seems excellent. I only attached screen at router end. It replaced some random cable from router to switch, and I have the Eno silver cable (plus Eno filter) from switch to streamer. Still what strikes me is better, tighter and punchier bass. I never heard bass that hits in the chest from my small 2-ways before, which was there today. Recommend trying it out. |
@svampebob - Yes there is a photo on this link about half way down the page http://www.image99.net/blog/files/9514cc3f6a7ba1d8336a56b1da69c6e6-84.html As you can see I use spades on the power cable wires mainly for safety - they lock into the plugs very nicely and I have found they sound better than bare wire. Regards |
