Duelund DCA 12ga Hookup Wire

Good to hear the unshielded, 3 wire braid sounds good.

There are many ways to approach this.

1) you don't need a ground at all.  Can use Pins 2 and 3 only.  Others have tried this; I haven't heard it.

2) Counter-spiral a ground (Pin 1) around a twisted pair for Pins 2 and 3.  Or put the twisted pair in a  teflon or other tube, and counter-spiral the ground outside the tube.

3) Twisted pair with braided shield for Pin 1.

Grannyring has likely tried variations 20 ways from Sunday.  Hopefully he will offer his view.  I recall he likes the braided shield for XLR.

@grannyring how long does it take the Duelund 12GA wire to break-in? 

Normally the larger the conductor, the more emphasis is made on the low end and vice-versa for smaller conductor. One has to experiment to fin the synergy, ie what gauge of cable to used between each component to achieve the right tonality.

If you like your tonality use a gauge that is the same as the current cable in each position. If non make your IC with a gauge larger or smaller depending on where you would like to go with  your tonality. The cotton dielectric makes then most difference in SQ, the size of the wires adjust the tonality.