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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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lak's avatar
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lak
4,529 posts
 
Thanks for the update guys :-)
williewonka
3,067 posts
 
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
aniwolfe
752 posts
 
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!
wig's avatar
wig OP
1,202 posts
 
@ aniwolfe

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

Wig👍
williewonka
3,067 posts
 
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
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