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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
3,081 posts
 
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Regarding Helix Speaker Cables and Helix Power Cables

In the last little while I have been made aware of certain amplifier designs for which the Helix Geometry Speaker cables is NOT a good choice.

These amplifiers adopt a completely "balanced" design approach in that the speaker outputs have a +ve and -ve terminal, where the -ve terminal carries the same signal as the +ve terminal, but it is 180 degrees out of phase to the signal on the +ve terminal.

I have also seen this design approach referred to as
Symmetrical or Complimentary
and is increasingly being used by several high end designs in order to allow them to drive difficult loads more easily

PLEASE NOTE: Using a Helix speaker cable will not damage the amp in any way, but the sound is not very good.

THEN JUST YESTERDAY, I realized that this would also be the case for power cables that are connected to a Balanced Power Supply.

Again - the power supply OR the component would not suffer any damage - but components connected to it would just not sound as good as they could.

If you have a amplifier that utilize the "Balanced" design approach then I would suggest using speaker cables made from wires of identical Length, Gauge and Insulation and separated by 1-2 inches.
- you can still apply the (Air) adaption, but to both wires

For the power cables - there is no "elegant" alternate solution that would provide the same clarity and dynamics of the Helix Power Cables when used with an unbalanced supply.

So please take this into account when making Helix cables for yourself or others.

There are NO ISSUES with Helix Interconnect Cables to my knowledge

This is currently the only point of concern that I am aware of

Regards - Steve
aniwolfe
761 posts
 
@williewonka 

Can you give examples of components that use Balanced Power Supplies? Any brand names that like to use this? Is it confirmed that Balanced power supplies do not sound good with Helix Powercords or is this just a thought?
williewonka
3,081 posts
 
@aniwolfe -The balanced power supply is not in the component.

Think of them being similar to a power conditioner.
  1. They can be a separate unit between the outlet and the components,
  2. or attached to the breaker panel and provide power to your system from there
Is it confirmed that Balanced power supplies do not sound good with Helix Powercords or is this just a thought
I have heard from people that tried the speaker cables with amps that use the Balanced/Symmetrical/Complimentary approach and they did not sound very good

It is my opinion that Helix Power Cables will suffer from the very same problems when used with balanced power supplies because the helix design IS NOT symmetrical
  • Because the Neutral is significantly longer than the Live wire then distortions could occur inside the component’s power supply, which would impact sound quality.

Until I hear otherwise I will not recommend the Helix be used with Balanced power supplies

But as stated above - they WILL NOT damage any connected components

Unfortunately I cannot provide a complete list of amps that use the Balanced/Symmetrical/Complimentary design approach because it appears to be growing quite quickly, but here are some I know of
  • some D’Agostino Amps
  • some Audio Research amps
  • Vitus
  • some Musical Fidelity high end models.

Regards - Steve
mawe
34 posts
 
@ aniwolfe

a balanced power conditioner is a kind of isolating Trafo with the addition to create from the one phase inlet (in Europe 230V AC) a symmetrical output of +115V AC and -115V AC. All DC, which could be on the 230V input line is eliminated and the new power is not connected to Neutral line, which could have noise and DC as well.

The components, which will plug into this balanced power conditioner will still see a 230V AC, which is the absolute difference between -115V and +115V. 
They can make a noticeable difference with the big advantage to have no dampening/loss of dynamics. Actually, in most cases they „sound more dynamic“, as the new voltage is always stable 230V, which, on the „normal“ inlet is not the case and we all know the fluctuations of voltage between days and night time. Main reason, that Hi-Fi systems may sound better at night. 
mawe
34 posts
 
In addition to my post above:

With a „normal“ 230V AC power line the „life“+ is carrying +230V and „neutral“- is 0V. The outlet of a balanced power conditioner has +115VAC on „life“ and -115VAC on „neutral“ conductor.
Therefore both conductor should have same size and length. Otherwise you loose some of the effect of the power conditioner.
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