Ah, Okay I see now. You ref. the spline it's self (using factor 0-1 of spline), where as before I was actually ref. the object I initially used to create the system in the first place.... So you told blender " Hey sin X of this spline ( our spiral), then off set the spiral on the Z axis- based on sin X (wave texture) of that same spline... very cool. So it's kind of like you created your own space for the spline... Thanks again. Explaining the actual function of wave texture- and what it was being applied to helped a lot.

Thank you @RobinBetts and Chris , I wanted to ask for a quick clarification. You mentioned that I was in the "wrong space". I am somewhat familiar with this concept in texturing - and how we can use the mapping node to correct for certain things. It seems to me that you used the "Spline P. node" with "Combine X.." as a way to correct space. Essentially you mapped that wave texture to the X... then told spiral to be off set on the Z based on the X mapping? I checked Blender Doc. and it says if vector is left unplugged it defaults " Generated Texture coordinate"... which I think broke mine.