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
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What a wonderful read! Thank you all for the sharing.
I have two questions that I cannot find a clear answer from Steve's site or in this thread.
1. For USB cable, is there significant improvement from AWG24 to AWG18? The USB type A and B connectors are usually designed for AWG24 and thus the question.
2. For double-double XLR interconnect build, what is the exact structure? a) Four runs of wires in total, with the V+ and one ground wire forming a helix set, and the V- and the other ground wire forming another helix set. b) Six runs of wire in total, with two V+ gentally twisted, two V- gental twisted and slightly apart from V+, and finally two ground wires forming a helix structure surrounding singal wires? c) or other?
Thanks a lot.
Wayne
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@wyan001 - I’ll leave any comments on the USB cable to @grannyring since it his design and I have NO experience with this particular cable The XLR design on my web site is from another DIYer in Europe and is a single/single design. I am not sure if anyone has tried a Double/Double version - anyone built one? I am not sure if anyone has tried the "Air" aaption either - anyone built one? If I were to try building an XLR cable I would definitely go for the "Air" Adapton but opt to build a Double/Single version as follows: For each of the +ve and -ve conductors I would use - 2 x 18 or 20 gauge bare wires with each wire in their own Teflon tube - twist the two wires "gently" together (one tiwst every 3-4 inches) - NOTE: do not bother twisting the the two assembled conductors together - simply insert inside the Helix Coil - For the Helix Coil I would used a 1 x 16 gauge Solid Neotech Solid UP-OCC wire with Teflon insulation - but 2 x 16 gauge Solid Neotech Solid UP-OCC wire for the neutral Helix Coil could be used for a Double/Double design - you could also try 2 x 18 gauge solid UP-OCC wire with Airlok Insulation from VH Audoi for the Helix Coil - the Airlok insulaton has a slightly better Dielectric Constant value PLEASE NOTE - for the Air adapton the internal diameter of the teflon tube used only needs to be approximately 20%-25% wider than the diameter of the wire, which assures adequate air gap between the wire and the sides of the tube If you do NOT want to use the Air adaption simply use insulated wire for the +ve and -ve conductors - For this I would use 2 x 18 gauge solid UP-OCC copper with Airlok insulatoin from VH Audio. Hope that helps - Steve |
Dear Steve,
Thank you very much for the quick response.
Another relevant question, if I have the choice to go with XLR or RCA interconnects within 2 meters (by buying or building custom-tailor (pre)amplifiers）, will Helix XLR be a better choice than RCA interconnect? You see, traditional wisdom usually says balance wire is better in trasmitting signal. However, Helix structure seems to greatly prevent noise pickup, as well as signal modulations between signal and return path, and therefore RCA interconnect might be very safe in this regard.
Thanks again.
Wayne |
