Which cable configuration is ‘shotgun’?

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

There seems to be a difference of opinion as to what a ‘shotgunned’ speaker cable looks like.

a). My understanding was that it was two runs of cable (ie a bi-wire configuration) terminated into one pair of plugs at the amp end, and two pairs of plugs at the loudspeaker end, ie to connect to a bi-wireable loudspeaker without using links or jumpers.

b). Others say it is two runs of cable, terminated in one pair of plugs at each end, so if used with a bi wired loudspeaker you’d still need links or jumpers.

I still think I’m right, as the second configuration doesn’t make much practical sense - why not just use two runs of single wire.

But if I’m wrong, what is the generally accepted term for a)?

 

[chiily]

I thought shotgun was just two cables side by side in an 8 configuration regardless of what they are used for.

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

I’ve never seen it used in anything other than speaker cables, so the question is why you’d call something a special name if it was just two runs of anything. The confusion seems to be around what description matches the termination options.

 

[Ian G]

You can get shotgun satellite cable.

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

You can get shotgun satellite cable.

Can you explain how it is terminated, please? That’s the bit I’m interested in.

To return to the OP, what term would you use to describe the termination arrangement a).?

 

[eevo1969]

I’ve got a pair of a). speaker cables but I thought shotgun cable was stuff like Cable Talk Talk 3 and Exposure/Naim low capacitance cable, has the thin flat divide between the two round copper runs.
Learn something new every day.

 

[davidsrsb]

To me shotgun means two insulted wires as close as possible, no overall insulation and no spacer. In RF world the one with a spacer is called balanced feeder, intended for a 300 Ohm impedance

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

So anybody got any ideas what (if any) term would be correct to use to describe a cable terminated as a).?

 

[Ian G]

Can you explain how it is terminated, please? That’s the bit I’m interested in.

To return to the OP, what term would you use to describe the termination arrangement a).?

It's generally accepted as being two cables joined together, speaker cable would be figure of eight. Termination would be to cable type. Shotgun satellite is just two coax's joined together during manufacture. Apologies for waffling, I was eating a crepe

 

[Darren L]

So anybody got any ideas what (if any) term would be correct to use to describe a cable terminated as a).?

Bi-wired is what I would call it. The first set of cables I actually bought were a set of Cable talk, they had two plugs at the amp end and four at the speaker end. I needed longer cables as id just moved into my first home of my own. I bought them from a hifi shop, cut to length and terminated in a 'Bi-wire' configuration for my Mission speakers ( of course I believed this to be an 'upgrade' at that time, oh to be 19 again) though to be fair they were better than the free QED I got with the speakers.

 

[Lavantha]

Not sure if this helps:
https://nordost.com/blog/how-to-make-the-most-out-of-your-bi-wired-loudspeakers/

My Jadis amplifier allows for 4 seperate runs of cable from the amplifier to each speaker connector. I thought this was what was meant as a shotgun cable arrangement but appears I maybe ( further) confused....

 

[Rug Doc]

Have you ever seen a side by side shotgun? this pretty much answers your question.

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

Thanks all, seems I might be mistaken in thinking it was shotgun, but I'm struggling to find a term to denote configuration a). then. It's basically two runs of single-wired speaker cable, siamesed at the amp end, but I'm guessing there might be a more acceptable term than that, these days!

 

[Craig B]

My Aunt Mary had an over/under 12-bore. She could do two clay pigeons a go, all day long, no problem. I doubt she could have heard any difference between single and bi-wired speakers, though.

 

[Tony L]

I have read the term used in the context of of wiring up a four core cable, e.g. Mogami 2972 for two conductor use. It appears there is some debate in how on how one selects the pairs in such a cable e.g.

1 2
3 4

One can obviously pair them 1&2 and 3&4, or 1&4 and 2&3. I’m not seeing much difference here, though I guess there may be a slight difference from a capacitance perspective depending on the construction. I’ve seen the adjacent core method described as ‘shotgunned’. No idea if this is correct usage or not. A lot of terms are made-up or misused in audio!

PS FWIW I went with the latter as I had to pick one!

 

[Mr Pig]

There seems to be a difference of opinion as to what a ‘shotgunned’ speaker cable looks like.

Does it matter?

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

Does it matter?

It does if you're trying to describe the configuration to somebody and their understanding is different to yours, yes. Hence my question in the OP. But thanks for helping.

 

[notevenclose]

You can get shotgun satellite cable.

Need quite a long length though, even in low orbit.

 

[notevenclose]

To me shotgun means two insulted wires

Yo mamma was fuse wire and yo homies is all deaf...

 

[tuga]

Thanks all, seems I might be mistaken in thinking it was shotgun, but I'm struggling to find a term to denote configuration a). then. It's basically two runs of single-wired speaker cable, siamesed at the amp end, but I'm guessing there might be a more acceptable term than that, these days!

Double shotgun?
The QED 79 is a good example of 'shotgun':

Bi-wire cables have 4 conductors: