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

@mbolek - very interesting - A "Quasi-Helix" design? 🤔

"Technically" - this cable has some positive and negative atrtibutes/benefits

  • on the positive side
    • the wire is cryo treated
    • is uses Airlok insulation, so it will have a lower noise floor than other cables
      • It is easier to use compared to Bare wire inside Teflon tube
  • on the negative side
    • The Airlok insulation is not quite as good as the bare wire in Teflon tubes at lowering noise floor
    • it uses stranded OFC copper
      • solid wire is always better
      • UP-OCC copper improves dynamic performance over OFC copper

Having said all of that - your observations appear quite positive...

I hooked up the VenHaus PC and really liked it.

It WOULD make a good power cable option for people using a Balanced Power Conditioner

  • Because the Live and neutral conductors are identical
    • Helix PC’s are NOT best suited to this application because the Live and Neutral conductors are very different

QUESTION - to form the Live and Neutral conductors

  • did you "pair" adjacent conductors ? OR
  • did you pair opposite conductors ?

It will be interesting to hear your observations when comparing it to cables that employ

  • solid UP-OCC coper
  • A true Helix "Air" Cable geometry

Marty - That’s some nice "out of the box" thinking - congrats!

Regards - Steve

@williewonka - Added a pic to my system folder.   I paired based on "adjacent".  Although, based on the quad twist, it might actually look like opposite??

I do have some Viborg solid core OFC PCs. At some point I'll try a solid sore OCC Helix version.

Going to focus on these XLRs for the near term....

This is probably the end of the line for the Helix, mainly because because I am all out of ideas as to where to take them next :-)

@williewonka, I think your journey isn’t over yet because you haven’t tried rectangular silver wires. Some people say they sound even better.

@zlib - despite what others may believe - there are limits to my cable obsession 🤪

The only reason I can think square wire would improve things is the increase in effective gauge.

But you have planted a seed - only time will tell 👍

Cheers

I eagerly await the report on the PC Triple C XLR Build that is imminently to be produced by @mbolek 

This is where my interest lies and it will be good to see the Pioneer Wire used for the Cable produced and put to service.