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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
3,082 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
jambaj0e
46 posts
 
Hmm.... So you think it'll be safe for me to use the Helix cable again on my system. I really would like to think this is a freak coincidence, too.

Also got this from Western Electric's email for support and RMA: "Based on the detail you've given us, you may have what we call a "leaker," or gassy tube. This problem can be quite difficult to detect during final inspection and sometimes goes for years without notice. "
williewonka
3,082 posts
 
@jambaj
As I said in one of the posts above,
Unfortunately, component designers can push their designs very close to a "limit" to squeeze out every ounce of performance
  • they do not know what components and cables you will be using with their product
  • so changing something as simple as a power cable can cause issues.
I have experienced component failure once before after a braided power cable was used with it
  • the root cause of that failure was in fact the speaker cables being used - not the power cable
  • the new power cable allowed the amp to work more efficiently, which caused it to exceed a "threshold" and the amp failed
  • once the speaker cables were changed the amp worked perfectly with the new power cable

I am extremely hawkish on finding the root cause of a problem, because without knowing the cause, a permanent and reliable "fix" cannot be implemented.

In your case
- it appears to have been a simple problematic "tube issue"
- or was it? could there be something in the design of the amp?

When I experienced problems with my Chinese Tube amp
  • I thought - "it must have been the tubes"
  • when I suffered a second failure I went looking for problems with that amp
  • I found reports it had been poorly constructed.
  • I was lucky in that I found a technician that was very familiar with the problems related to my amp and fixed it for a reasonable fee
So, for me there are two questions...
  1. am I confident the Helix Power cable WILL NOT be the CAUSE of any future issues? - and my answer to that is YES, I am very confident!
  2. am I confident your amp will not suffer any further problems? - unfortunately the answer to that is NO!
Amps are extremely complicated when compared to a simple power cable there are tubes, transformers, capacitors resistors etc. any of which can go wrong
Factor in things like " a "leaker," or gassy tube" and it increases the probability for something to "fail"

I have had the Helix power cables on every single piece of audio equipment I own, for over 4 years, and to date - not one component has had any issues.

If I were in your position - I would have the amp looked at by someone that is very experienced with fixing tube gear. It might have been something as simple as a "leaker or gassy tube", but it could be something more serious.

When something fails - there is a very specific reason and sometime it is not what we might be suspecting.

In my case my amp had the wrong power transformer, underrated resistors/capacitors, and underrated PCB traces - all of which had no real impact on sound quality - the only issue - it destroyed tubes after just six months of use.

By contrast - a friend of mine is still using the same tubes for 35 years - his amp was a great design and it was well built.

One last thought - WRT the comment you received from Western Electric

I would write to "The Tube Store" and ask them the same question and see what they say.

www.thetubestore.com - Your online source for audio vacuum tubes.

I purchased all my tubes from them and they ensure all the tubes they send out are in pristine condition. You might want to try tubes from there in future - just a thought :-)

Regards - Steve

williewonka
3,082 posts
 
One last thing - I have compared the the LCR measurements of the Helix cables to some other cables - and they are basically "Goldilocks Cables" - i.e. not too firm and not too soft :-)
- i.e. Their measure values were in the "middle of the pack"
- from a zip cord cable
- to Stock Cables from Bryston and Naim
- and custom cables made from Furutech wire and DH Labs bulk wire.

Some people will postulate that the Coil "must" cause some issues
- IT DOES NOT!
- the Helix Coil is he NEUTRAL and so is basically at zero volts

The Helix cables have been "vetted" by some very experienced audiophiles from around the world and to this day, not one person has expressed any concerns about the design

I hope that provides some level of comfort

Regards - Steve

jambaj0e
46 posts
 
So I actually had the Cayin HA-300 for a year and 5 months, and two months ago, my one of Psvane ACME 300b tube flashed white and resulted in a -20dB drop on my right channel. Turned out it fried a wire-wound resistor. This was the first time I've had issues with the amp, and that's with fairly heavy use of my amp since it's connected to my computer, so I'd use it 6-10 hours sometimes (something I've stopped doing since I got the amp repaired)

I took it in to a local tube repair guy who's actually part of Westerex (division of Western Electric). He swapped out the resistor per the factory schematics, tested the amp and said everything worked out and he said the amp is in great condition.

Since then, eEverything was working fine with the stock tubes until I replaced it with the Western Electric 300b, and this time, it's the left channel tube that caused problem, and it followed the tube when I made the channel swap.

So far yesterday night and today, I haven't experienced the noise issue that came from that WE300b tube, and it looks like they'll replace it.

So yes, I have had the tube repair guy look into my amp to make sure everything was going well and he said the rest of the amp outside those replaced resistors was in good condition.
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