Duelund conversion to DIY Helix Geometry Cabling

Hi Steve,

Thank you so much for a very detailed answer and the additional afterthoughts.

I’m in agreement with you regarding the importance of best conductors for the lowest, most fragile signals, which is also the reason why, I will try out the conversion from UP-OCC Cu to UP-OCC silver on my phono cables to test how it sounds on my setup.

Early in the process I did try the Duelund silver cable, but that proved unsuccessful. Due to the gains in sound quality in general using Neotech solid Cu wire, I will give the silver wire from Neotech a try.

@mbolek You are en route and I am looking forward to reading your feedback about what you are perceiving.

@williewonka Your descriptions on the Cable Types and function is making a lot of sense.

Since I have dropped my barriers against Cables and their effects being a fantasy, I have made it my goal to find away to understand how a Cable construction can influence the sound.

After Capacitance and Methods to Screen out Interference, Lower S/N then the types of Wire used start to appear, and then configurations for the wire in use.

With a basic understanding of the above, I stumbled onto the Helix Thread and found myself inspired and most importantly willing to participate, which is now to the point, I have the Wires of choice to commence.

Whilst gathering information and making inquiries to more educated individuals about the importance of some of the electronic considerations for the selection of wires and a Cable Design.

I learnt of a few other things to consider, and that was the importance of the Connectors in use and whether the wire to be used for a Cable can commence its route within the device itself.

Making a decision about a wire within a device is reasonably easy if it is out of warranty and the circuitry design lends itself to the method to exchange.

This has already been agreed to be carried out on my Power Amp's when converted to Balanced and Single Ended, the New Pre Amp is to have my wire choices used from the off.

The connectors used for Single Ended Signal Paths, both connector types,    Chassis Mounted and Cable Attached are more of a challenge.

I have been informed by an individual who has used many Brands Connectors to produce cables, with  Connectors across a range of differing purchase prices to produce Cables or exchange Connectors on bought in Cables.

That there are variables in measurements regularly being discovered when testing  certain Brands and some of the most varied fluctuations are able to be seen on Brands that are sought after for their reported qualities.

The same person has informed me that the Chassis Mounted Connectors can have a very noticeable impact on the sound, and the ones that are Pure Copper with the minimum materials used to produce the part, has in their view the most impressive impact on the sound quality.  The attribute is described as not only being down to the material used but also the mass of the part, as there are less residual signal retained that can be detected as smearing when the signal completes the path.

With the above in mind, is there a possibility that a little more could be extracted, if a thought process was put in place, focusing on how to provide a device that has a thought gone into to it, that will enable it to work as an improved interface with the Cable Design.     

 

    

@pindac -

a device that has a thought gone into to it, that will enable it to work as an improved interface with the Cable Design.

The short answer is...

Anything is possible!

However -

1. getting it accepted across the entire audio industry would be one challenge
2. and then getting it accepted by the audiophile masses would be the final hurdle

The net result of both of these...

it will not happen in my lifetime !

But all is not lost - there are basically four generally accepted connectors within the industry (worldwide) at present

• XLR - extremely robust and multi-purpose
• RCA - the most commonly used and multi-purpose
• BNC - digital only
• DIN - more specialty (e.g. turntable cables) but more widely used in europe

The connector having the highest mass of all of these is the RCA, but that is changing...

• there are now several brands that offer low mass RCA versions
  • ETI, KLE Innovations etc..
  • KLE Innovations now have low mass versions of
    • Banana plugs
    • RCA plugs and sockets
    • speaker/amp terminals

And similalry there are now companies that offer conncetors with pure copper pins in a variety of platings.

It’s just a matter of time - for these materials/designs to become more generally accepted by the component manufacturers.

Also - you have to realize that

• the percentage of audiophiles willing to go to "extremes" to achieve better sound is very small compared to the general audiophile populous
• but the various components are designed to sell to everyone

Being aware of the many realizations you mentioned above, you are now in the 0.1% of audiophiles that see the benefits of the science.

But catering to that 0.1% does not sell product

• printed circuit board designs are "the norm" these days
  • because they bring down the cost of manufacturing
    • so it makes changing sockets extremely difficult
  • and manufacturers build products to a price point and select parts that work, but not necessarily "work well"
• There are some tube amps that do still choose point-to-point wiring
  • which makes replacing sockets very easy
• The most extreme route I have heard of is to hard wire all of your cables

So - the net of all of this is...

• YOU now have the knowledge to make the best possible selections
• Everyone is constrained by poor design & build choices in most of the products out there unfortunately
• However - WE have the knowledge and abilities to minimize the impact of those poor design & build choices.

There is some hope

• Some cable designs now coming onto the market, incorporate many advanced materials, low mass connectors and cable geometries, that result in exceptional results.
• This will "rub off" onto the component maufacturers over time

So I am hopeful that advances in thie area will continue

Regards - Steve.

 

 

The MPT Pure Copper Male RCA Plugs and WBT - Nextgen - Chassis Mounted Female sockets are the connectors I will have on a shortlist for any future Single Ended Interfaces.

I already own Aeco Pure Silver Plugs, so I can do an A/B evaluation when the time arises.

When in discussions, the descriptions offered in favour of the MPT > WBT parts when used coupled together, are the ones claimed to be producing quite noticeable improvements, and enough to no longer use other highly regarded parts used for umbilical connections.

The investigation into the above pairing of connector parts, is an option for others who are interested in this design of Cable. 

As stated earlier, for some who do share the interest, the Chassis Mounted Socket might prove to be a little difficult to consider as a exchange part.

I am still working with the XLR options but at present, the Atlas Plug on the Cable is looking the most likely. 

The Chassis Mount options are very limited as well, when pure metals are the wanted materials.  

Hello.

I did a rough implementation of the Helix speaker wires to test out the geometry and liked the results. I am now looking to build a Helix power cord and single ended interconnects with the materials in the recipe, and before buying the materials I wanted to check if Helix power cords and interconnects a good choice for SETs?