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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
williewonka
3,082 posts
 
@divertiti- too bad about the Fidelium.

You could try building your own cables, but with this style of amp both conductors NEED to be exactly the same and the +ve and -ve conductors would need about a 1" gap between them to avoid induced noise - the only real issue is maintaining the gap for the length of the cable.

But to accomplish the spacing I would fist start with a "Dollar Store" design, just to see how well this approach works
Using this approach you could then make the conductors from 2 x 16 gauge UP-OCC bare twisted wire inside teflon tube, since we know this approach yields very good results

Once you hear the results you can fabricate a more "attractive" method of maintaining the spacing

PLEASE NOTE - I have never made this type of cable before, so I am just brainstorming here, but based on my experience with the Helix cables I believe it would work very well

BUT if you want a commercially available cable, other than the Fidelium, one of the best cables for this style of amp would be Nordost, from the HEIMDALL 2 model and above, because they are low inductance AND low capacitance and should achieve a very good signal transmission with this type of amp.

Regards - Steve


t_ramey
632 posts
 
@divertiti 

Before I started reading this thread I had ordered a pair of Kirmuss Adrenaline speaker cable from Audio Archon. They’re the best sc’s I’ve come across so far and not too expensive at $610 for 12ft length which is what they recommend for best sound with their design. Another member here told me about them after comparing them to the SilverSmiths Fidelium.

https://kirmussaudio.com/the-adrenaline-speaker-cable/

t_ramey
632 posts
 
Just wanted to state that I have not built and tried the double helix image sc’s yet to compare to the Kirmuss. I just built my first set of double helix image with Neotech copper with Teflon and so far they’re great. Waiting on more mil spec wire to arrive to build the naked or air version.
divertiti
225 posts
 
@williewonka Thanks for the great idea, I will look into that construction for sure. I tried the DIY Helix speaker cable I made previously with VH audio OCC and Milspec, it still sounds pretty good but compared to other speaker cables, I can hear smearing that's affecting clarity and instrument definition.

@t_ramey Thanks for the suggestion, I am reading correctly that the other member preferred those to the Fidelium? Do you have a link to this comparison by chance?
t_ramey
632 posts
 
@divertiti 

It was all done thru pm's here. Yes, he preferred them to the Fidelium's and several others he auditioned and I just heard from another forum member that they tried both the Kirmuss Adrenaline's and SS Fidelium's and favored the Adrenaline's as well. I don't have too much of a comparison list except with the Audio Envy cables that were pretty good but for just a little more money the Kirmuss cables are definitely more detailed and image better while still being relaxed and smooth.
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