A HELIX SPEAKER CABLE QUESTION - Do I have to use the Beads?
I’ve been asked this question a few times and always respond that the beads provide better sound quality.
But that has always been for cables that use a single wire for the signal conductor.
Things have now changed and the" Double Shotgun" approach is taking off in combination with the (Air) approach of using bare wire inside a Teflon tube
- so if you are using dual conductors in Teflon tubes for the signal wire I now see no reason to use the beads any longer - why?
Well this week I finished a couple of power cables that use dual wires for the Live conductors. These cables were for the more power hungry components in my system, so I used 2 x 14 gauge bare wire, each wire inside it’s own Teflon tube and then twisted together - and the results were excellent
So I got to thinking about power cables and the fact they probably have the strongest EMI influences to contend with of all the cables, i.e. carrying the highest voltage/current of all the cables.
I realized that if a twisted wire pair were used for a speaker cables then it was no longer necessary to employ beads for spacing because
Please Note: I have not tried this to date, so I cannot confirm this "by observation" as yet, but the evidence, as it relates to power cables, is very compelling and I feel extremely confident that this approach will make fabricating the Helix speaker cables much simpler going forward, without compromising sound quality.
For the Live conductors I recommend either 2 x 16 or 2 x 14 gauge
- I am currently using 2 x 16 gauge wire inside a single Teflon tube and the result is stunning with a significant improvement in ultra low frequency depth.
Regards - Steve
I’ve been asked this question a few times and always respond that the beads provide better sound quality.
But that has always been for cables that use a single wire for the signal conductor.
Things have now changed and the" Double Shotgun" approach is taking off in combination with the (Air) approach of using bare wire inside a Teflon tube
- so if you are using dual conductors in Teflon tubes for the signal wire I now see no reason to use the beads any longer - why?
Well this week I finished a couple of power cables that use dual wires for the Live conductors. These cables were for the more power hungry components in my system, so I used 2 x 14 gauge bare wire, each wire inside it’s own Teflon tube and then twisted together - and the results were excellent
So I got to thinking about power cables and the fact they probably have the strongest EMI influences to contend with of all the cables, i.e. carrying the highest voltage/current of all the cables.
I realized that if a twisted wire pair were used for a speaker cables then it was no longer necessary to employ beads for spacing because
- the wires inside the Teflon tube would gravitate to the center of the twisted wire pair, leaving more space between the outside of the twisted wire conductor and the neutral coil
- also, as the the wires are twisted, each wire "take turns" at being the closest to the Helix coil, therefore disrupting the EMI effect
- very likely, because the 5/16" rod to form the neutral coil of the mains cables, work so well with dual conductors, it is more than likely a 5/16" rod would be adequate for speaker cables also, because they convey lower powered signals.
Please Note: I have not tried this to date, so I cannot confirm this "by observation" as yet, but the evidence, as it relates to power cables, is very compelling and I feel extremely confident that this approach will make fabricating the Helix speaker cables much simpler going forward, without compromising sound quality.
For the Live conductors I recommend either 2 x 16 or 2 x 14 gauge
- I am currently using 2 x 16 gauge wire inside a single Teflon tube and the result is stunning with a significant improvement in ultra low frequency depth.
Regards - Steve
