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  3. 156742-1458

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
3,072 posts
 
@mawe - #3 is correct - BUT #1 should be UP-OCC Silver - thanks for brining it to my attention :-)

Here’s the correct list - and I’ve deleted the post with the mistake
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had not seen IACS rating for UP-OCC metals before, so I thought I would post this list of all metals commonly used in audio products

Electrical Conductivity or IACS rating
  • International Annealed Copper Standard
  • where Tough Pitch copper is the benchmark at 100%

The IACS rating (i.e. conductivity) for the best conductors are
  1. UP-OCC Silver - 107%
  2. Pure Silver - 105%
  3. UP-OCC copper - 103%
  4. OFC Copper - 101%
  5. Pure copper (aka Tough Pitch) - 100%
Please Note: the values above may vary slightly depending on the source

Other metals frequently used in audio applications for plating...
  • Gold - 70%
  • Rhodium - 39%
  • Nickel - 24%
  • Platinum - 16%
When use for plating, these metals require a substrate plating material to be placed on the copper first.

However - Silver is the only metal that can be plated directly onto copper without degrading performance

Other copper alloys most used, especially for pins in Connectors of all types...
  • Tellurium Copper - 93 %
  • Beryllium Copper - 45%
  • Brass - 26%-27%
  • Bronze - 15%-19%
Hope this clarifies yet another part of the cables puzzle

Regards - Steve
luisma31
516 posts
 
@williewonka


These amplifiers adopt a completely "balanced" design approach in that the speaker outputs have a +ve and -ve terminal

Nice posting Steve, after trying many cables on my Atmasphere mono amps and preamp rig over the last few years I realized cables wouldn't really make much difference on it. Which is what Ralph have been saying for decades about the cable colorations in true balanced equipment.

Now I don't know if the speaker outputs are also balanced on Atmasphere equipment but trying different speaker cables (of normal length 4 to 9 ft and normal typical gauge 10 to 16) doesn't make much difference either. I believe the sauce that makes the whole chain impervious to colorations is upstream.

But thank you all for posting, following your notes I will give the Helix a try.



williewonka
3,072 posts
 
@Luisma31 - From what I have read the Atma-Shere amps appear to be  Balanced Differential Design, which means the HELIX Speaker cables WILL NOT perform their best when connected to these amps.

As suggest in an earlier post for another member, you could make two UP-OCC bare conductors in Teflon tube that follow the Air adaption on my web site

This gives you the benefit of conductors that effectively has Air as their dielectric, which translates to improved clarity, dynamics and imaging

How to construct a prototype...
  1. Go to the dollar store and buy some children's alphabet blocks
  2. Go to the hardware store and buy some little screw-in ring eyelets
  3. screw one in each side of the block - it will space the two wires
  4. Follow the instruction on my site for the Air adaption of the signal wire for speaker cables
  5. thread the two wires through the eyelets to maintain a gap between the two conductors
  6. I would still use the KLE Innovations Banana plugs
  7. Connect to the system and enjoy
You can build a more "professional" spacer one the concept is proven 

If you would like a more detailed info please contact me via the email address on my web site

Regards - Steve
luisma31
516 posts
 
Thank you Steve, appreciate the help.
wig's avatar
wig OP
1,211 posts
 
Updated Air Helix Speaker Cables!

All-Tubes - Virtual Systems (audiogon.com)

Wig
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