Duelund conversion to DIY Helix Geometry Cabling

@williewonka @wig and others

What is the reason behind, besides costs, to only use one helix when using Neotech compared to the recommended two helixes when mil spec is used? The double helix has so far appeared to be the preferable solution following the Schroeder Double Shotgun principle.

When discussing power cords I seem to remember, that one of the prerequisites for the design was, that no power was running on the neutral side, only in the live wire. Hence - from that understanding it comes as quite a (pleasant) surprise, that changing from mil spec to Neotech offers such huge improvements as described here. Does these observations make thinking of the basics behind the power cords to be modified?

@ provst - my own personal approach when making changes to a cable is to introduce a single change at any one time. This allows me to assess the changes as they relate to just that change.

One of the original approaches in the Helix design was to incorporate a larger gauge neutral wire. and this approach was adopted across all cable types and it appeared to work very well.

Also, very early on I did try different wire types for the neutral on my interconnects, but they seemed to provide little, to no benefit over the larger gauge Mil-spec wire, so I never pursued it any further.

And remember that the Mil-Spec is silver plated, which contributes to it’s conductivity, which probably made it perform better than those other wires tried at that time - i.e. until most recently, the UP-OCC wire was used.

So when @wig reported his positive observations after replacing the Mil-Spec neutral with Neotech Solid wire, I decided to try the same "approach" with a single wire on my interconnects. That proved to be successful.

I then went on to try that same approach on my power cables, but with a single stranded wire, which was also very "successful".

The Neotech UP-OCC wire was the first wire that made a noticeable improvement when used for the neutral.

Now, both my interconnects use a double signal wire and a single larger gauge neutral wire. Would a double neutral wire perform better? I believe it would, it’s just a case of BY HOW MUCH?

So now I have cables that are performing at (close to) the very top end of the "performance curve" and I believe I may be entering the region of "diminishing returns".

So I have to ask myself - will the amount of improvement achieved by adding a second neutral really going make enough of a difference to justify the expense and the effort?

I still have two source power cables that use the Mil-spec neutral and they sound great, but I might try this approach just to satisfy my own curiosity :-)

If money were no object I would invest in cables using UP-OCC solid silver for all conductors - they should provide the very best sound possible

WRT you statement...

When discussing power cords I seem to remember, that one of the prerequisites for the design was, that no power was running on the neutral side, only in the live wire.

I believe this may have been in context of the "safety aspect" of the Helix design and the fact that should the insulation on the neutral become compromised, it would not present a significant risk of electric shock because the neutral side IS (or should be) at zero vaults provided all the other attached electrical circuits are functioning correctly.

But the neutral IS required to allow the transfer of electrical energy from the live to "ground" and having a better "pipe" to accomplish that transfer would naturally result in better performance.

Regards - Steve

Out of curiosity, does the Helix geometry work for BNC cables or HDMI? What about USB to micro USB/USB type C?

Steve - thank you so much for elaborating and commenting on your perspectives.
My reason for asking regarding the double helix is, that my very good friend and I are standing at a crossroad. We have all materials at hand for building multiple power cords using Neotech solid core wire as live conductor and cryo mil spec from TFA as double helixes for Neutral plus PE. Based on the newest observations from @wig and you we are unsure, whether we should shift focus and acquire a larger batch of Neotech (either stranded or solid core) for Neutral, and if that Neutral should be a single or double helix. We have concluded that the easiest path when making the helixes is to do all in one go, ie one Neutral plus PE or double Neutral plus PE. Up until now we was of the impression, that only a double helix for Neutral would be the best possible solution, which is why I asked regarding your choices of single helixes, when using Neotech. Hope this makes sense. Any recommendations are highly appreciated.

As to the Neutral conductor in a power cable it makes common sense, that electrons are flowing also in the Neutral conductor. A local electrician informed us, that there could be some signal passing even though, it was supposed to be a firm zero. We have also measured very low output on Neutral deducting from the live conductor for the total voltage difference on hand.

On a different note - regarding interconnects.
The observations found by you, Steve, indicates that there are huge improvements to be expected, if one replaces mil spec with Neotech. I assume your observations are with single ended cables using RCA’s, so that cable will consist of a signal wire and a helix both made by using Neotech. My question is, what are the expectations, when interconnects are balanced using XLR connectors and where Neotech is used for ve+ and ve-. Would you expect differences for the better, if the helix (which is ground on a balanced cable) also was converted to Neotech?