German Car HiFi by Helix from Audiotec Fischer.

Helix is one of the product series by Audiotec Fischer. A German company with a focus on creating quality and substantial products for the mobile audio industry since 1990.

Ever wondered why people are putting audio processors in their cars? What does it do?  Isn’t it working fine if there’s just sound coming out of my speakers?

The short answer is simply to correct the audio signals and provide you the ability to control Imaging, Staging and Tonal Balance.  A well tuned audio system will excel in all 3 areas to reproduce music and vocal that is as true to the original recording source. If you have a great source, you will experience the “live” feeling of being there, in a concert, a recording studio or simply unplugged in a pub.

I have had my fair share of nuances in my years of driving.  Have you ever strained your ears and struggled to hear the news reporter off a digital radio station?  Feeling groggy in the head as you cannot identify the source of sound while driving everything seems to come from the driver side doors and then sometimes, all over the place?

Having a processor greatly fixes these nuances in car audio – intelligibility of speech (imaging), source of sound (staging) and gives you full control of the audio frequencies to deliver the last touches to tonal balance.

This can only be achieved with the raw processing power of an audio processor, and Helix DSP series are little monsters at that.

Small in size, yet powerful, with quality components hand picked by the engineers. The Helix DSPs comes in a few models, and yet, the design is so robust that all configuration and set-up is unified by a single piece of software, the ATF DSP PC-Tool.

Helix P SIX (MK2)

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The perfect upgrade for the exploring consumers on a journey to audio perfection, something to start with, without undue investments.  Stay comfortable with your existing car interior with absolutely no visible changes, yet experience the capabilities offered by this Processor and Amplifier in one package.

The Helix P Six processes up to 6 channel input from your OEM media source and directly provides your original speakers with up to 230W of power at 2 Ohms each.  You can extend an external amplifiers using the 2 RCA outputs to expand more channels, such as a sub-woofer for that deep, low excursion of a cello or double-pedal drums.

Designed with robustness in mind, there are optional HELIX Extension Card Slot (HEC) to extend the functionality of the P Six – for example a Bluetooth® audio streaming module to stream audio from your smartphone, or an additional optical digital input or an optical digital output.

Find out what you are missing.  Experience the musicality and dynamics that your existing investments can provide!  If you like how music sounds after this change, you can always engage us for more (poison), such as a fully Active system powered by the Helix DSP PRO.

Key Highlights – Full specifications are available here.

  • New “Ultra HD Class D” concept which combines the high-end sound quality of class AB technology with the benefits of class D amplifiers
  • Full audio bandwidth up to more than 40 kHz thanks to 96 kHz sampling rate
  • Cutting-edge, extremely powerful “fixed point” Audio DSP with 64 Bit resolution and 1.2 billion MAC operations per second
  • 24 Volts power supply compatible without the need to make any changes to the unit
  • Smart high level input with ADEP circuit – retains all your original speaker monitoring functionality of the car and does not create any trouble/fault codes.
  • HELIX Extension Card (HEC) slot for additional input / output modules
  • Compact design with low heat dissipation thanks to ­extraordinary efficiency
  • Automatic Signal Detection – automatically switches to the input source that is currently sending an audio signal based on the priority assigned.

References:

“The digital reference”, said Elmar Michels, chief editor of Car+Hifi magazine in issue 2/2016 about the HELIX P SIX DSP MK2.
Read the complete article in English now.

Helix DSP PRO

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The perfect choice for people with a discerning ear with external amplifiers.  This processor comes with 8 channel inputs, processing signals from your original head unit and media sources to additional digital and toslink inputs of aftermarket head units.

The new HELIX DSP PRO raises the bar to a new level, not only in terms of sound quality but also in terms of usability.  Due to the implementation of the latest generation of ultra-fast Audio DSPs with enormous 64 Bit resolution, this device provides more processing power than any other signal processor available on the market today.

It is the first of its kind which provides the full signal processing path at a sampling rate of 96 kHz, resulting in an extended audio bandwidth up to more than 40 kHz.

Designed with robustness in mind, there are optional HELIX Extension Card Slot (HEC) to extend the functionality of the DSP PRO – for example a Bluetooth® audio streaming module to stream audio from your smartphone, or an additional optical digital input or an optical digital output.

Key Highlights – Full specifications are available here.

  • Cutting-edge, extremely powerful “fixed point” Audio Digital Signal Processing (DSP) at 64 bit resolution
  • Digital to Audio Converter (DAC) by Asahi Kasei – one of the most neutral DAC available in the 2016 market recently and has just been incorporated for use in Home Audio by Anthem, Onkyo, Pioneer, Esoteric, just to name a few.
  • 96 kHz Sampling Rate – full audio bandwidth up to more than 40 kHz for unparalleled audio performance
  • 30-band equalizer per output channel using Parametric, Graphic or Shelf filters
  • Channel levels increment in 0.25db steps including Equalizer functions
  • Time-alignment adjustments in 3.5mm or 0.01ms steps
  • Phase alignment adjustments in 11.25 steps
  • Butterworth, Bessel, Linkwitz and Custom Q crossover filters at 6 – 42 dB (1st – 7th Order) slopes.
  • 5-band equalizer per input channel.
  • Remote Control (Director) input and USB port for management and configuration
  • HELIX Extension Card (HEC) slot for additional input / output modules
  • “Ground lift” switch to avoid ground loops causing unnecessary noise in the system
  • Power Save Mode conserves electricity and protect against battery drain.  Depending on configuration, all devices such as amplifiers connected to the DSP will be powered off when no audio signal is present after 10 or up to 60 seconds or disabled entirely for systems that are implemented with remote turn-on/off wiring configuration.
  • Switched Power Supply – ensures a constant internal voltage supply even if the battery voltage drops to 6V during engine start.
  • Automatic Signal Detection – automatically switches to the input source that is currently sending an audio signal based on the priority assigned.