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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


128x128wig
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,436 posts
 
That’s what I did! Thanks for be more precise Steve. 
divertiti
223 posts
 
Thanks gents, a couple of more questions if you don't mind....one of my two pairs of interconnect that I'd like to convert uses barewire (no PTFE) inside cotton sleeve, two questions:
1. If I were to make the two runs into a single double run of twisted pair, should I do it with the cotton sleeve around each conductor so they only meet at the ends or should I twist them together in bare wire form so they're touching the entire length?
2. Can I mix the PTFE version and barewire + cotton sleeve version of the same wire in the same XLR cable?
williewonka
3,071 posts
 
@divertiti - Personally - I would not mix the bare wire and PTFE wire.

Mainly because I like to have everything "the same"

But if you think about it, the signal in the PTFE wire could be subject to the noise generated by the insulation. The bare wire (in cotton?) would not be subject to the same "level" of noise

But we are talking tiny tiny TINY details here - inaudible? - perhaps.

How much of an issue would this be? - it really depends how sensitive your ears are, but unless you tried both approaches you would not know.

It can also be a bit of a mind game, in which case it depends on how concerned you are about getting the absolute best sound.

After all - we all suffer different levels of ANAL :-)

I did have one set of IC’s with two bare wires twisted together inside a single cotton sleeve and they sounded exceptional. I think that would be my choice in this case.

Hope that helps - Steve


divertiti
223 posts
 
Thanks @grannyring and @williewonka, it helps a ton, I will repurpose my cotton and bare wire. Do you know if it's possible to make an AES EBU cable? I know it needs to be 110ohm and have special shielding requirements. 
williewonka
3,071 posts
 
@divertiti - what connector will the cable be plugged into?

- Balanced XLR style
- Single ended BNC connectors

Thanks
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