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

New guy here. Wow, what an amazing thread. I interested in going down the rabbit hole, but I have a few really basic questions that I couldn't find an answer to.

#1  When assembling the dual signal wire interconnects,  what is the reason for shielding the two wires? Why couldn't the wires be touching each other when incorporating the light twist?

#2   Is there a reccomended inner diameter when determining the use? Interconnects or speaker.

#3  After you have made the coil, what is the maximum amount the coil could be stretched  and still function correctly? (Unfortunately,  I have a speaker cable that would need to be 17 feet, so finding a rod long enough could be a problem)

My apologies if I missed where this was covered. Thanks in advance for your help.

Cheers -- JB

@escapevelocity - welcome !

#1 - I assume you mean insulating the two wires ?

  • well I first tried two wires in one tube - then someone tried each wire in it’s own tube, so I tried it and it sounded better - improved clarity

#2 - I have tried several diameter helix coils and I have obsereved no difference

  • but makeing the interconenct coil as small as possible allows for the RCA casing to move freely.
  • for the speaker wire, you have to allow sufficient space for inserting the signal wires down the longer length of cable - it can bind on a tighter coil

#3 I have 9 ft cables and the spacing is about 1 cm

  • stretching the coil to almost twice that for a 17 ft cable might not be wise
  • i would aim for about 1.5 cm coil spacing at most
  • the trick is to provide sufficient coverage to the signal wire and disrupt any external noise interference e.g. like a Faraday cage would

Hope that helps

If you have any more questions just ask - we’re here to help

Regards - Steve

@sasho - apologies for not answering sooner

WRT

have you tried 1 x solid core Neoteck Up OCC 12 AWG with original teflon or Cardas Chassis hook up 11.5 AWG wire Instead of 2 x 14 AWG bare OCC for signal In speaker cable

Unfortunately I have not compared these Gauge/wires in speaker cables

  • I did try 1 x 12 gauge vs. 2 x 14 gauge Neotech wires in power cables and the 2 x 14 gauge perfromed better
  • I did try 1 x 14 gauge Notech with teflon insulation and 1 x 14 gauge bare Neotech in Teflon tube and the bare wire in teflon tube performed better

From what I have read, the Cardas wire is stranded

  • I have tried stranded Neotech wire and compared it to solid Neotech wire, both with Teflon insulation
  • The bare wire provided the better performance

From what I have been able to discover...

  • electrons generally like to stay within a strand of wire, but will "jump" between strands under certain conditions
  • jumping strands takes more energy which results in micro distortions
  • these distortions manifest as noise in the signal which impacts sound quality

For those reasons I use only bare wires,

I have also tried 3 and 4 wires in Teflon tubes and found no advantage over 2 wires, which is why I use 2 wires for all signal and live conductors

Seems that using two wires with each wire is inside a teflon tube is the optimum soluton, but I have not been able to ascertain why 3 or 4 wires do not sound better

Hope that helps - Steve

 

Has anyone made an ethernet cable with this design? How would one go about doing so?