DIY Power Cables Instead of Used


Good Day All,
     I'm hoping to gain from the benefit of your experiences comparing power cables, or your knowledge from extensive reading.  I'm leaning heavily toward DIY at this point, but am always open to overachieving reasonably priced new from authorized U.S. distribution or European channels.  Though I was originally very big on shopping mid to high end pre-owned power cables, I am no longer entertaining the used market for this purchase.
     I ask that you please share what your observations of a brand/model are, rather than just throw a brand name out and say you recommend it.  Any help you could provide is greatly appreciated.  I'm seeking to upgrade the power chords on all of my components and am already working on installing direct circuits from the service panel, with audio grade receptacles.
     Thanks ...

sfcfran
@soma70 
Indeed the DHL Power Plus 12 and the Red Wave are very high on my short list. Thank you for the reinforcement of personal experience!  Could you tell me a little of what kind of power cord you replaced, or what equipment you placed the Power Plus 12 on, and in what ways it improved it?  That would bring great context for me, as I make final decisions here.

Thank you!
>>> Rich
@sfcfran - 

I recall bumping into a discussion on that quite some time ago
You are correct - I added the Power Helix design in 2015 and made a couple of refeences to it elsewhere on the forums here at that time

I have been promoting more actively the Helix range for the last few months onseveral threads - so you will see them from time to time.

Another fellow DIYer on Audiogon is also developing a "ribbon style" cable - where the conductors are held apart by a "ribbon" of tape. The seperation of the two conductors has the same effect - i.e. much less induced noise, which improves clarity.
- The advantage of the design is that the two conductors are of the same length - unlike the spiral of the helix
- the disadvantage is that the cables can get quite wide when compared to coventional geometries.

Other developments - i have been talking with fellow DIYers in several counties about theHelix geometry. One person has shared an interesting finding, so I have to update the design of all Helix cables on the site

Please check back with the site in a couple of days before building to find out the latest construction details - it's a small change pertaining to the how the helix is wound in, but it takes some explaining without the images

BTW - also take a look at the HELIX speaker cables and IC's - the same geometry is used - i.e. the neutral is a helix spiral wound around the live/signal. The speaker cables proved to provide exceptional improvements across the board over other speaker cables I have tried.

@elizabeth - the silver plated Mil-Spec wire is indeed a bargain and as you pointed out, makes great power cables and speaker cables. 

I am about to try 24 gauge Mil-spec on a pair of IC's as the signal conductor, i.e. in place of the solid silver wire I currently use.

I'll post the results here in a couple of weeks

Stay Tuned - Steve




@williewonka 
Awesome stuff Steve!  Thank you. The fact that you and many such as yourself, take so much time out here to share your knowledge is such a great benefit to others such as myself... truly endearing of the hobby. 

I've encountered the flat ribbon concept as an interconnect.  My initial experimentation 3+ yrs ago with cable upgrades lead me to Mapleshade (amongst others).  His development by "ear" lead him to believe the flat ribbon is the best transport for digital.   I bought a few of his products to include flat ribbon copper digital interconnect.  I truly enjoyed it for a few weeks, until it stoped working when I unplugged and replugged it in, as I shifted my components around... a bit of a quality control issue which he refunded the purchase price on.  While I do get you are referring too a slightly different configuration,  from the moment I pulled the ribbon out of the box, I did find the downside of the configuration to be its frailty.  I would however imagine that could be overcome with design improvement.

I enthuaiastically look forward to your revisions of the helix design.  It will take me time to do It all....so while I may seem rushing to make decisions on things now, it is only because I have a moment in life right now to dedicate to a lot of reading and mapping of plans, etc....by the time the I order products and they arrive, it will be a slower process of assembly and integration into my rig.
@sfcfran - here is the update to the helix design - got it done today.

Just waiting on some feedback from Yordan on his findings, but other than that it is complete

http://image99.net/blog/files/b4d5249616a56bdabfd28b5580db6cec-79.html

As for the frail nature of the ribbon style - yes a little tweaking to the design can solve that.

Just about to start on the cables :-)

Regards - Steve
@sfcfran -  Well last evening I installed the "revised" helix speaker cables with the helix being wound in the opposite direction and it appears that as indicated on my web site - it made a discernable improvements - across the board.

So if you are planning on building the Helix design please ensure you follow the instructions on my site

So far I have only tried the speaker cables, but based on their level of improvement i would recommend taking the same approach on all Helix cables

Regards - Steve