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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
3,075 posts
 
@wig ’s observations regarding his upgrade of the Neutral on his power cables got the old grey-matter going - once again...

I just happened to have some 12 gauge bare Neotech UP-OCC laying around from one of my previous upgrades, so I decided to use it to see what impact it would have if I used the it for the NEUTRAL wires in my DIY Power Distribution Box.

This box is a very simple design - just three MRI grade outlets with a mini breaker and a couple of on/off switches - it is used only to distribute power to my source components

The existing wires
  • live - 12 gauge solid Neotech with Teflon - approx 20" long
  • neutral - 12 gauge silver plated Mil-Spec - approx 10" long
I simply replaced the neutral only with the bare 12 gauge inside a PVC tube - so basically I incorporated the "Air" adaption as well

But when I listened - just as @wig observed - I could not believe what I was hearing.
  • improved clarity and even more details - just wonderful articulation
  • improved bass texture details and depth
  • improved dynamics
  • an image that is more detailed and spacious
All this right from the get-go.

One of my favorite types of audition music is the Church Pipe Organ, because of the subtle nuances of the upper register pipes, to the more startling bass tones.
I have a few pieces recorded in large cathedrals using dual high quality microphones only, which I find are just amazing to listen to.

But I was not quite ready for what I was about to hear...

This simple little upgrade now conveys the true (massive) character of this wonderful instrument.
  • the truly amazing "wall of sound" that conveys the grandeur of the cathedral setting
  • the stunning dynamics and details from the bass pipes through to the upper registers
  • the vibration of those massive bass pipes - it was like someone shaking you
  • and the separation between the various sections of "pipe voices" spread across the image

After experiencing how much more difficult upgrading the 16 gauge neutral on the Interconnects were, I decided I did not want to "wrestle" with replacing a 12 gauge neutral on my PC’s

So now I eagerly await the arrival of the 12 gauge Neotech stranded UP-OCC for a PC Upgrade - later this week.

As always - I will reports back on this upgrade also

So what started out as a seemingly "insignificant upgrade" i.e. to put some spare quality wire to good use
- it appears that it doesn’t matter how long the wire is
- upgrading to UP-OCC always pays off

Regards - Steve.

williewonka
3,075 posts
 
@willgolf - WRT the hum you experienced using the Helix Power Cables...

Several years ago an acquaintance experienced a serious issue with his amp after installing a high quality power cable. It seemed that the more conventional power cables did not cause the problem, but it turns out that the "root cause" of his problem was actually his speaker cables and not the power cable

When @aniwolfe told me about your problem I did some digging and found this link which "could’ provide and explanation for the Hum you experienced...
Two Types of Tube Amplifier Hum and How to Determine the Source - YouTube

Yours is the first case I have heard about where the Helix Power cables has caused some problem.

Perhaps the Helix PC's simply exacerbated an issue with one or more of the tubes?

Regardless, replacing the Helix PC is probably the easiest option.

But I thought it was worth mentioning

Regards - Steve

mawe
34 posts
 
@ willgolf 

your hum , it seams to me like you have a DC voltage on your mains, or picking up some sort of RFI or EMI.
And it could be, that the helix design does not filter any. 

A power cord that does a kind of filtering could be a multi wire cable with “ cross-connections” of the wires.

I have good results with a 7 wire standard Ölflex CY 110 cable, 7G1,5.

It has 1 centre wire and 6 wires around this centre wire. G1,5 means, each wire is 1.5 sqmm (15 AWG). 
Cross-connection means, you use from the outer wires no.1,3,5 and connect them to L, and wires 2,4,6 to N. The centre wire I only connect to ground on the mains plug, not the IEC plug.

This makes up to a 3x 1.5sqmm (4.5 sqmm) power cord. The CY 110 is shielded and the shield I only connect to main plug.

If your amps have an earth pin on the IEC inlet, you need to add a ground wire, min. 4.5sqmm, which I run on the outside around the cable.

It is a PVC insulated standard stranded industrial cable. Connected to good power plugs and giving it more time to burn in, you can get a really good performing power cord at a very low price.

The cable costs just 5-10€/m + plugs.

Since the wires are multi-strands, it sounds more “airy” than solid core, but not as tight as the OCC solid core. (After min 200h burn-in; I put them 2 week on my fridge before I put them in my stereo)

I use these on my HT Receiver and like them more than the Helix PCs in this application because of its “Shielded”design and the “filtering” effect.

Best IEC plugs would be FIM (not available any more), or SonarQuest silver.
willgolf
936 posts
 
Steve and Mawe
Thank you for the information.  I did watch the video.   Very interesting.  My Canary Grand Reference has 16 300B tubes....that will be a project in of itself and who knows maybe it is more than one tube.  It should be noted the tubes are relatively new.  

Being functionally blind it is very hard for me to do any DIY stuff.  Seeing that I have an extra InaKustic 2404 PC that I am not using, I might as well do the simple thing and just order another one to cover the Mono Amps.  

I still have a very slight hum, which is partly due to the sensitivity of my 98db Viking Acoustic Grande Voix speaker.  The speaker cables I am using are the Viking Acoustic Gottenberg cables.  

aniwolfe
760 posts
 
@willgolf

The Inaukstik powercord you have has a 20amp female plug. It is not compatible with your power amp. I believe plugin adapters are made to convert a 20amp female plug to a 15amp female plug? Otherwise VH audio makes some nice powercords if you are looking to buy new. VH Audio AirSine or cheaper option is Audio Envy powercord https://audioenvy.com/product/power-cord/5732/
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