Oooops - in my post above I wrote
with the KLE Innovations spades you get almost 1 sq cm of contact area
That should have been...
with the KLE Innovations BANANAS you get almost 1 sq cm of contact area
Apologies - Steve 😏
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
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When the System is reassembled, the intension is to be using this design of Cable. In the interim, I am having a few changes put in place. The Power Amp's are to being returned to the Designer/Builder to be converted to work as Balanced and Single End. Another EE Friend is now commenced with building a Balanced/Single End design of Pass Korg Nutube B1 Design Pre-Amp is being produced. The Power Amp' EE has asked for all devices to be in use, to be made available for the final testing to take place, as well as be supplied XLR Cables that can have a Earth Shield detached at One Connector. The query is, does the Helix Design lend itself to this request from the EE. I was not quite onboard with the EE's inquiry, when questioning me about the Cables to be built, I am interested in meeting the request from the EE, and to have a Cable available with this as a option, which will be able to have a shield detached. |
@williewonka, many obstacles and delay when ordering from UK or Europe. Strikes and protests severely disrupting my cable building exercise. A word of caution against using dienadel.de for components. Fighting to get a refund after returning some connectors. Also www.acoustic-dimension.com totally useless. They lure you onto their site with cheapest prices but do not keep any Neotech in stock. Basically drop-shipping. Waiting time - several weeks While waiting for kit to arrive I made up a pair of interconnects using the CCC, the first wire I received. I debated using as is or stripping the insulation for the bare Cu. With no PTFE tubing yet delivered I went with the cable as supplied. The solid Cu. twin wire is 19AWG and measures 5.9mm in width which I tried to fit into a coil of Neotech 16AWG wound on a 5mm fibreglass rod. I had to separate the conductors to get them to lie a little closer together. I shrunk some heat-shrink tubing over the rod to increase its diameter should I make another. I inserted these between my Oppo and amp because Spotify runs all day so quickest run-in time. Initial listening was using redbook files from an external HD I can state that I do not like what I heard, my wife and I simply love them! Whatever we played we heard details that we had not heard before or had not noticed because they were buried or obscured, but detail is only part of it. It was a more immersive experience with the leading edges of notes easily noticed, making percussive sounds exciting and more real. Darbuka, djembe, tablas and congos sounded excellent, better than I've heard before. Piano sounds wonderful with the player's left hand more obvious. There was a fullness in the portrayal now and that was first listen. Jacob Gurevitsch's guitar sounds gorgeous. Knopfler's guitar on 'you and your friend' pops out. Listening to very well produced Christina Pluhar's -- Los Impossibles recorded in Chapelle de l'Hopital Notre Dame du Bon Secours, the sense of space in the large hall could be heard even before the music started, not ever noticed that before. My system is border-line on the bright side of neutral and was apprehensive about excessive detail but need not have been concerned, the IC provided a fuller sound and with more detail that was welcome. Steve, perhaps consider changing your handle to willieWOWwonka 😁 I now have about 40hrs play time and yesterday I found a little of the magic missing. More stuff should arrive in a week and I intend to build another IC with twin bare 20AWG AG to compare directly with the Cu CCC. Let me finish by stating that anyone sitting on the fence should jump straight in. |
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