Duelund conversion to DIY Helix Geometry Cabling

@williewonka

ive been down the OCC hunt rabbit hole for months now.
I’ve come to the conclusion that unless the wire came from the Wan Lung factory in Taiwan, it is not OCC. Sure every Alibaba Chinese company will tell you that theirs is OCC but when asked to see any certification or if you ask them why they are not listed on the patent licensing, they balk.
Wan Lung has never supplied OCC bare.

I’ve been making every type of Air Helix cables now for my system as well as for friends with great success. My entire system is now Air Helix (besides speaker cables due to balanced topology of Yamaha AS2200) Recipes are dialed in. All with NeoTech ,AECO low mass connectors, and some stunning PC connectors. Very Happy.

@camrector very glad to hear you are liking the Helix AIR cables 😀

Sorry to hear that you are encounting issues with sourcing the OCC wire.

Personally I use any f the folowing companies

• parts connecxion bare OCC copper and OCC siver wire
• neotech OCC copper wire from a couple of different sources - but it must state that it is OCC 
  • Sonic Craft
  • HiFi Collective
• VH Audio OCC copper and silver aire with Airlok insulation

I have compared the wire from all of the companies above to the more affordable OFC wire and can confirm that the wire exhibits the faster dynamic perofrmance that OCC wire provides.

Here is a link to the Parts connexion wires threy currently have

• Parts Connexion Bare wire

Unfortunately, they do not curently stock 12, 14, 16 gague sizes, but that can change

Other sources, e.g. ebay, alibaba etc.. I do not trust.

When investing in OCC wire I would rather pay a premium from a "trusted source" rather than gamble on pay a little less from an ebay merchant that may less scrupulous .

The Helix AIR geometry will perform extremely well using OFC copper in terms of noise floor and clarity, but it wil lack in terms of details and dyanmic performance compared to the same cables that employs OCC wire.

For your speaker cables you might want to try the following

• for the signal wire: 2 x 14 gauge bare OCC wire inside teflon tubes
  • each wire is inside its own teflon tube
  • basically the AIR geometry
  • use a tighter twist - one twist every inch
• for the neutral wire: use the same wire gauge/geometry
  • but twist the wires in the opposite direction
• insert each assembled conductor in its own cotton sleeve
• insert the two conductors in an expandable sleeve to keep things tidy

This will ensure the conductors will perform welll in a balanced scenario

Regards - Steve

@williewonka

I’m not having any issues sourcing OCC. Neotech is found like you said at a few places.

I think you missed my point entirely. I’ll rephrase.
If the wire didn’t come from the Wan Lung and Wan Lung factory only, then it is not OCC. No other factories in the world have the license to manufacture the OCC patent. One can buy whatever it is that Parts Connection and VH audio from a few different factories in China. But it is not produced by Wan Lung and therefore not official OCC. Wan Lung produces Neotech

I would not trust your “trusted sources” products that are not Neotech.  I’m not saying that they are being deceptive on purpose. But what I’m saying is that only one factory in the world (Wan Lung) currently produces true licensed OCC. They do not supply bare wire, they do not supply anything with “Airlock insulation”. Other factories do and call it OCC but it isn’t.

@camrector - I’m not disputing your claims, I was just pointing out that the wire that is sold as OCC copper by my "Trusted sources" performs significantly better than OFC copper and even Mundorf solid silver wire and therefore would provide the performance I was observing

I think going forward and for the purpose of this thread that the wire that is being marketed as OCC wire by companies like Neotech, whilst they may not be actual OCC wire in the true sence, the term OCC is understood in the audio community as identifying a wire of a higher quality (i.e. superior to OFC copper)

FWIW - the bare OCC wire I purchased from Parts Connecxion actually performed a little better than the Neotech wire when used in an identical Helix AIR cable, where the Neotech cables had been stripped of it’s insulation.

Perhaps the improved perofrmance was due to it’s 6N rating as opposed to the Neotech 5N rating. No idea where they get it from, but it is a very good wire indeed

Just from a pure interest perspective

• where did you happen to find this information - I would like to read more
• Who does Wan Lung sell their wire too?
• Do they make wire for the audio market?

Many Thanks - Steve

@williewonka 

Research and phone calls. 
OCC stands for Ohno Continuous Cast. It’s a patented manufacturing process. 
Any manufacturer can (buy) license the patent, buy the appropriate equipment, and produce copper wire and call it OCC. One can look online at the patent and see who has licensed it and when they have licensed it. 
Wan Lung is the only factory that has a current license. They produce the wire for Neotech and Harmony. They will make wire for anyone if you purchase enough of it 
Then print your name on it. 
 

https://www.wanlung.com.tw/email.htm