Duelund conversion to DIY Helix Geometry Cabling

HELIX PC Update...

I was recently asked what differences could be heard using the Solid Silver VS. the Solid Copper from VH Audio for the LIVE conductor in my PC’s

Since I had just made a 5ft cable using two strands of Solid Copper for the live conductor, I compared it to the PC on my streamer that uses a single strand of Solid Silver from VH Audio for the live conductor. All other wires were 14 gauge Silver plated Mil-Spec. 

To my complete surprise I could not tell any difference between the two wire types.

Perhaps there could be a minor improvement to be had using the Solid Silver wire on components of a higher resolution capability?
- But on the Bluesound Node 2i that I tested the cables with there was no discernable difference.

This Solid Copper wire from VH Audio appears to be exceptional - perhaps I’ll try it on the IC’s :-)

@wig - So glad to hear the Helix DIY’s are working out

I now use Helix PC’s on my guitar amps and they work wonders there also

Have you thought about trying them on a TV?
- they do amazing things for colour and blackness and adds more definition to deep shadow areas of the picture.
- I also had to turn the brightness down on my Samsung 4K.

Regards - Steve

@ lak

No problem and thanks again.

Ron

Wig, thanks for the follow-up.

Helix Power Cords Update!

Got all of my Helix PC built, burned in and have been settling in my system for over 10 days and they are sounding phenomenal! My commercially bought Helix PC was my standard as they beat everything and like my previous experiences with Helix interconnects, the Helix PC exercises the same attributes…

The first thing you will notice is how focused they are with razor sharp and locked in images within the soundstage and of course the clarity, transparency, width/depth/height and a realness that’s quite astonishing. Music and detail are not pushed out at you in a forward way but behind the speakers in a palpable and very organic way and it is almost like your amp signal-to-noise ratio has increased 20 db.

If you do not have a cable cooker, I recommend you place these on a component that you can run 24 hours a day for 7-10 days as I cooked mines for 4 days and it took another 6-7 days of settling before they reached their sweet-spot. You will hear their sonic signature immediately but depth and low-level detail will become more apparent and effortless after burn-in.

The reason I mentioned focus is that when I compare this DIY Helix PC to my commercially bought Helix PC and as good as the commercially available product is, glare is a standout feature in relation to the DIY Helix.

I intentionally added one PC at a time to discern any notable improvements and can tell you that each one made a noticeable difference but the PC on my 2A3 DHT Pre was Dramatic as if my Class A Amp doubled its 18 Watts rating!

The choice of connectors is a personal decision but I compared Parts Connexion CF Rhodium Plugs to Furutech FI-11 and 28 and couldn’t discern any sonic benefits to spend over their $49 asking price for a set! I used VH Audio 18 Ga Solid OCC Copper with Airlok as my live conductors and the number of strands was determined by the component.

It's hard to describe the differences but those familiar with analog will get this; DIY Helix sounds very natural or real verses sounding digital... 

Build one low wattage Helix PC and move amongst your source components to hear for yourself the beauty this cord can make in your system.

Wig

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/2061#&gid=1&pid=14

Everyone - many thanks for your very positive feedback - I’m so glad you are all finding the Helix cables are working out on your various systems.

My own speaker cables (recently updated with the VH Audio solid copper wire) have completed day 8 of their continous burn in period i.e. 192 hours, so I have finally given the amp a rest and turned it off. There maybe smaller improvements to be heard, but since the neutral and banana plugs were already burned in I think any additional improvement will be minimal.

The Solid copper from VH Audio is by far the best I have tried to date for the signal wire in speaker cables.

I can confirm @wig ’s findings, in that, as you convert more of your cables to the Helix geometry, the better your entre system will sound.

If anyone has questions - just ask - I’m happy to answer them if I can

Regards - WW

@ aniwolfe

That's awesome! It gets even better with additional Helix Cables...

Wig👍

I recently installed a 8 ft set of the VH Solid Core Copper Helix Speaker Cables and I am very happy with what I am hearing from my system . The first thing I noticed was how open sounding my system has gotten. Vocals have this quality that sounds so lifelike. The decrease in noise and distortion has made low level listening even more enjoyable. Extension from top to bottom has increased without adding any sizzle or boom. Very smooth and natural sounding. I would say that average recordings now sound excellent, this is for sure a cable that allows your system to sound more cable-less. I believe this is a DIY recipe that will compare to much costlier cables over $2000. While I do not have the experience of listening hundreds of cable designs from big manufacturers, this is the best I have heard and would never go back to overpaying for cables again. I have used cables from Audience, Wireworld, Cerious Tech and Acoustic Zen. This DIY Helix design blows them all away. Very impressed!

UPDATE -  I now have 3 days continuous burn in on the speaker cables and I am finding them to be improving almost daily.

I like the refined fine details and dynamics the Solid OCC Copper with AirLok bring to the sound over the Duelund wire previously used 

Even Internet Radio is starting to sound very good :-)

One thing I have noticed recently is the price of the 10 gauge from Take Five Audio - they had to find a new supplier a few weeks back and the price has since more than doubled. It originally cost less than the 12 gauge.

Whilst I like the robustness of the 10 gauge wire for maintaining the coil shape, I'm thinking the 12 gauge should perform just as well when using the 2 x 18 gauge (effectively 15 gauge) because it maintain a 3 gauge difference between the signal and the neutral and it is pretty robust in maintaining the coil shape also.

A fellow DIYer is trying 12 gauge - I will keep you all updated.

Regards - Steve

Thanks for the update guys :-)

@ williewonka

Your Helix design and VH Audio OCC Airlok Cabling is a splendid combination!!

Wig 🙂

Speaker Cable Update!

I received the 18 gauge solid copper with AirLok insulation from VH Audio yesterday. It took almost 4 weeks to arrive at my house in Canada - via USPS/Canada post. This is the longest any product purchased from VH Audio (normally only takes a couple of weeks), so I guess Covid 19 slowed things down a little.

The upgrade was simple - replace the existing 16 gauge Duelund signal conductor, with two strands of the 18 gauge wire.

- I twisted the two strands together for their entire length with a "gentle twist" i.e. one complete twist every 4-5 inches
- I spaced wood beads about every 1.25" and secured them in place with a very small dab of Hot Glue
- Threaded the wire/bead assembly through the center of the Helix Coil and attached the Banana plugs.

Complete instructions can be viewed on the web site
in a couple of days...

http://www.image99.net/blog/files/category-002ahelix-image-speaker-cable.html

The results were very noticeable as soon as I installed them...
- the image expanded a lot and the precision placement of instruments and artists had more precision, It is now very wide with lots of instruments and artists much wider than the speaker locations
- details were noticeably improved, with more noticeable background vocals and instruments
- clarity had improved, possibly due to the improved imaging.
- Dynamics were even more punchy than before

I thought the previous version that used the 16 Gauge Duelund wire with Cotton/oil insulation was probably as good as it was going to get. But based on feedback from @wig, who had tried it, I thought I should also take the plunge 

I am so glad I did !

Unfortunately, my budget will not stretch to try the 18 gauge Solid Silver with AirLok insulation from VH Audio. At almost $900 just for the wire, it’s a little out of my snack bracket :-).

But the Solid copper wire has exceeded my expectations, So it is well worth upgrading. i.e. if you are using one of the other wire options listed on the web site.

Regards - Steve

@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

@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

Thank you.  I see in the previous post you mentioned using an 18awg solid wire for a signal wire for a speaker cable.  Isn't that too small for a speaker conductor?  Do you triple up on that run so the proper current is delivered to the speaker?  I'm confused.

@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

Is not me who has the website, it is williewonka .

Grannyring,

You mentioned you have a website.  I tried googleing Acoustic BBQ to find it and did not find it.  Please post your website. I'm interested in PC's Interconnects and Speaker wires.  Thanks.

Everyone - many thanks for your support. Glad to hear you are enjoying the benefits of the Helix Geometry cables.

Nice to hear people are trying their own variants on the basic Helix geometry as posted on the web site, because there are simply far too many permutations for this guy to try.

The parts and wires listed on the site are my own preferences based on performance, cost, and availability. As such they may not be the absolute best products available, but they do perform to a very high level for what I consider to be a "reasonable cost". But I do leave it up to the individual to take the Helix design to their "comfort level" - and feedback is always very much appreciated.

As I find out about other products from other DIYer’s, I update the site accordingly.

Over the past year there has been a couple of revisions to the entire lineup. So visiting the site a couple of times a year for any developments may be beneficial.

There will be an upcoming revision posted on the site in about 3-4 weeks detailing changes to the signal wire on the Speaker Cables thanks to Wig.

@wig has tried the 18 gauge solid copper wire from VH Audio for the signal wires on his speaker cables and reported very audible improvements over the Duelund Cotton/Oil wire, so I am just waiting on the postal service to deliver my order of the wire before I try it out for myself. but Wig’s comments sound very positive and from what I have observed of this wire in the power cables, it should be a winner!

FYI: The Helix design (as posted on the web site), is used by DIYers from around the world and so far I have seen postings from around the world including China, Chile, Hong Kong, Russia, Australia, Canada, USA, Bulgaria, Austria and the list goes on.

And a few DIYers have made significant contributions to the site with their own extensions to the Helix Geometry e.g. "The Bad Ass Helix Bi-wire" speaker cable and the XLR Helix Image interconnect.

@grannyring - FYI - the parts/materials listed for the power cables on the web site are the best I have tried to date. The Source Component cable is exceptional, but for amps, using 4 strands of the silver wire would start getting a little expensive, which is why I used copper, but the choice is yours.

For those of you that may be sitting on the fence, or for those of you that believe my reasonings as to why the Helix geometry provides such great performance is just "nonsense" - I would just say - try them :-)

- You do not have to use the wires and connectors shown on my web site.
- I started a lot of this development using CAT6 for interconnects
- and Romex for power cables.

Anyhow - enough from me - thanks to everyone that has jumped on the Helix train. It will stop at any station so you can get onboard anytime

Any questions - just ask :-)

+1 Wig & Grannyring

I really like the Helix IC cables and the author is a great guy. His site is very well done also. I slightly prefer the Duelund 16ga built into a double IC in one. Two 16ga +/- runs in a special geometry. I found it more to my personal liking in terms of body, midrange presence, ease and musicality. Just my subjective preference and others may like the Helix recipe with conductors of their choice

Bottom line is a somewhat skilled DIYer can make cables as good or better than those selling for up to many thousands with some of these proven builds.

I need to try the Helix on a power cord as I have yet to do that.