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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
jambaj0e
46 posts
 
So it's still making the buzz, and I turned off my Chord Hugo TT2 right away, and so it doesn't seem to be the source, nor can I replicate the sound through the TT2's headphone jack.

The buzz is also a lot quieter, so much so that I could barely hear it from the Tekton Lore Reference speakers, and it's just a bit there on my Audeze LCD-3.

But biggest thing I found is that it's only coming out of the left channel. I thought it was both, but I flipped the headphones around, and it certainly traveled with the left ear cup!
jambaj0e
46 posts
 
And if anything, the "buzz" kinda sounds like a mix of air out of a balloon and static noise.

  Consequently, that's also the channel that had the scruffy noises several weeks ago, but went away.
jambaj0e
46 posts
 
The buzz traveled with the we300b tube! I swapped them, and the weird noise traveled to the right channel! On both the headphone and speaker, the noise is now on the right channel, not left! Next thing I'll have to do is take the WE300b out completely.
jambaj0e
46 posts
 
Just swapped back to the stock TJ Full Music 300b tubes, and so far, dead quiet. Crossing my fingers that I’ve found the culprit, and that hopefully Western Electric can ship out a replacement. If this noise problem is no more, I’m both relieved and saddened.

That being said, this problem happened a day after I used the Helix power cable on my HA-300, so as a caution, I will NOT be using that cable, sadly, and will go back to my Helix cable. I can’t say for sure that there’s a direct correlation between

I do hope that I can get a refund for the cable...
williewonka
3,075 posts
 
@jambaj - It’s likely the problem would have occurred at some point in time, even with the Morrow Power Cable because it sounds like the tube was on the brink of failing

Tubes can be problematic at the best of times, especially when used in designs that operate right up to the boundaries of a tube’s limitations.

I’m glad you found the problem, but I do think it was an unfortunate coincidence that a failure happened at the same you tried the Helix PC

The root cause of the buzzing was the failure of a single tune on one channel. Had there been some sort of power cable related issue it could have impacted multiple tubes on both channels or even worse the entire component

One thing I have observed - Helix cables actually allow solid state components to operate more efficiently, resulting in lower operating temperatures. This is one reason I do not believe the helix Power cable contributed to your issue

One issue I had with my Chinese built integrated tube amp - they used the wrong transformer for the Canadian market - it was rated at 100v and not 120v and as a consequence the heater voltages were 20% higher than the tubes were expecting, so it quite literally "burned through" tubes ever 6 months.at $300 per set. The company didn’t even admit this was a problem when I pointed it out to them and refused to fix the problem. I had it rebuilt and sold it - never again

I now avoid Chinese built products like the plague - I don’t care how good the reviews are!

As for getting a refund on the Power Cable - The Helix PC is NOT the cause of the problem - therefore the builder of the cable is not really at fault here AND it is a custom build - not a stock item than can be resold.

If you want to get rid of it - perhaps one of the readers of this thread will buy it from you - anyone interested?.

Regards - Steve
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