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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
divertiti
225 posts
 
Also one more question for @williewonka @grannyring and @wig , has there been a consensus on which sounds better:
1. Putting two bare UPOCC conductors in a twisted pair inside a single PTFE tube
or
2. Insert each bare UPOCC conductor into its own PTFE tube first then twist the two tubed run into a twisted pair?
williewonka
3,075 posts
 
@divertiti - RE:
One thing I’m unclear on is how to coil the 16ga neutral if it is being created using the air tube method? If the bare wire is free floating inside the tube, how do you coil it with the drill?
I’ve never made and "Air" neutral.

Personally for me, it poses too much of a problem inserting such a long wire into the teflon tube

The signal wire on my 9ft speaker cables took some effort inserting the wire
  1. the wire needs to be as straight as possible
  2. the tube has to be held as straight as possible
To coil it with a drill I would probably
  1. cut the wire 2-3 inched longer than the tube
  2. first tape the wire to the rod and then tape the tube to the rod
  3. then wind as normal

I would select a tube that is just a little bigger than a single strand fo bare wire

RE: -
has there been a consensus on which sounds better:
1. Putting two bare UPOCC conductors in a twisted pair inside a single PTFE tube
or
2. Insert each bare UPOCC conductor into its own PTFE tube first then twist the two tubed run into a twisted pair?

Electrons have a propensity to stay within the physical boundary of each strand of wire and only "jumps" to another strand if the amount of energy being transferred exceeds the "capacity" of that strand (or a faster route to ground is provided).

The signal in Interconnects is "low energy" and using 2 x 18 gauge wire would probably result in very few electrons making the jump between the two strands.

For speaker and power cables I use a separate tube for each wire

For Interconnects I simply twist the wires together first and insert into a single tube. This allows for a little more "wiggle room" in order to to tighten the coil down around the signal wire in order to install the RCA housing without any difficulty.

But if I have to guess - having each wire in a separate tube would probably sound "MARGINALLY" better.

Hope that helps

Regards - Steve

mawe
34 posts
 
@ divertiti

I have done the „outer“ coil as „airadotption“ using a 6mm Teflon tube on a 1.5sqmm wire on some power cords.
For further protection I did use an additional 10mm PVC tube over the Teflon tube, (PC at 230V).
It was easy to slide the wire into the PTFE tube, but the PVC tube had been a bit more difficult, but worked.
I used to twist the 2 outer wires (2x 15 AWG) together by hand at the same time.

The PTFE tube needs to be longer as the wire, as it shortens after  twisting.
However, I‘m not sure if it is worse the extra work. My concern is, stripping the insulation may damage (cut) the OCC wire and this may „eliminate“ some of the benefits. If one could get the OCC wire naked, I would probably do the Air-Adaption.
williewonka
3,075 posts
 
@mawe - try Parts Conenxion for "naked" UP-OCC

https://www.partsconnexion.com/occ6n-copper-hook-up-wire.html.

They carry most gauges suited to the Helix Cables

But I am still not certain whether the "Air" adaption on the neutral is worth the effort

Regards - Steve
divertiti
225 posts
 
Thanks for all the answers gents. @williewonka I'm on the cusp of ordering but not sure if the Parts Connexion nake UP-OCC would be up to the quality of the Neotech, have they been pretty much comparable to the sonics of the stripped Neotech?
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