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
- ...
- 948 posts total
I've replaced all my AC cords and ICs with Helix designs and am very happy with the results. Now it's time for speaker cables, and I am very interested in trying the "Air" version. If I'm using bare 14 gauge OCC copper in a teflon tube (for the 'hot' lead) do I still need to use the beads? Seems like if the bare OCC wire is spaced away from the neutral / ground wire by the tube then the beads would be superfluous? Anyone tried this without the beads? |
@walkern - I have tried the speaker cables without beads, but I prefer them with beads - the sound is just a little more relaxed, with slightly improved clarity and with a slightly larger image - it was NOT a huge difference But that is with MY ears on MY system. And it was a couple of iterations ago, so I was not not using the bare wire in Teflon tube - it was using the 2 x 18 VH Audio with Airlok insulation I guess the thing to do would be to try it without the beads and see if you like the sound. Let us know how they turn out Regards - Steve |
@divertiti - WRT UP-OCC bare wire - from my post dated
02-14-2021 8:05am https://www.partsconnexion.com/product50050.html Regards |
I’m with @grannyring
Even before this thread started, myself and others in Europe had tried 1 x 24, 1 x 22, 1 x 20, 1 x 18 and 1 x 16 gauge wires, and 1 x18 gauge came out on top. I’ve also read of many "cable theories" on this forum
Regards - Steve |
- 948 posts total