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Benefits and Drawbacks to Shotgun Speaker Cables

Hello everybody, just wondering what the technical differences are between Shotgun and normal speaker cables. I know there are two cables instead of one. I'd like to know the technical differences, like conductance measurements etc... Also, what experiences have you had with Shotgun speaker cables? What was the biggest change that it brought to your system?
buckingham
buckingham OP
333 posts
 
Hey Guys

I uploaded a sketch of what I've got right now that I refer to as Shotgun

www.teachandtravel.com/shotgun.jpg
buckingham OP
333 posts
 
There are 2 cables per terminal, so 4 per speaker.
maxgain
526 posts
 
Buckingham,I think it will still confuse some out there. Looks like what you are doing IS (standard 2 terminal) shotgun. All conductors in each wire(which were intended to be used as +And-) are now grouped together as + in one cable and - in the second, for each side. Now throw bi-wire shotgun in there and I think people will still be unclear on it. I think that some of the confusion comes from the manufacturers using their own terms. Terms like "single bi-wire" and "internal bi-wire" which are the same thing in my understanding. I still think AudioQuest does a good job of illustrating and explaining the bi wire thing, along with some good discussion of electrical properties, with some AQ propaganda thrown in. They think solid round conductors are best,Nordost says flat, Analysis says oval, I think they are all sort of right, maybe, perhaps? I want a solid stranded braided round flat oval networked teflon foam air liquid insulated silver copper internal single bi-wire shotgun cable. Not too much to ask? My head hurts now.
sean
6,231 posts
 
Buckingham, that was a valiant attempt at artwork and being helpful. Glad to see that i'm not the only "scribbler" out there : )

I agree with Maxgain about this still not clearly showing what we are talking about. One would almost need a color coded drawing to fully clarify things.

The easiest way that i can think to explain this is to use a double barrelled shotgun as an example. Think of a double barrelled "side by side" shotgun ( not an "over and under ) design. You have your right barrel ( call this the positive wire ) and the left barrel ( the negative ). Instead of having the two barrels used individually for each polarity ( + and - ), they are tied together at each end. In effect, you know have one barrel that is twice as big. Since you only have one conductor to "shoot" the signal from the amp to the speaker ( we'll call this one positive ), you now need an identical yet seperate "shotgun" ( cable ) to make up the necessary negative lead. In effect, you now have four smaller wires acting as two bigger wires.

While a similar effect can be achieved in a multi strand or "internal bi-wire" cable due to the plethora of smaller wires in one bigger jacket , the main difference in "shotgunning" is that each polarity ( + & - ) are completely seperated from each other within their own jackets. They also have an air gap between the two polarities.

That large air gap is what increases the inductance of the cable. The closer the cables are brought together, the lower the inductance would be. That is why cables like Goertz, which are flat strips of copper or aluminum sandwiched as close together as possible, are very high in capacitance and very low in inductance. Zip cord is higher in inductance because of the bigger gap / thicker insulator between the two polarities. Sean
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garfish
1,840 posts
 
Hi (again) All; to me, and to Richard Vandersteen, TRUE bi-wiring is four SEPARATE cables going to each speaker from the amp(s)-- these four wires are not enclosed in common sheath. The Vandersteen manual makes this clear. A shotgun system has all the wires (either two or four) enclosed in a sheath with four terminals at the speaker end but only two at the amp end. So, given equal quality, a TRUE bi-wire system will cost more, and be "messier", than a shotgun system. Cheers. Craig
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