Has anybody tried using single solid core cables?

Multi strand has timing problems, try checking out Anti Cables or Aural Thrills.

Just out of interest, can anyone tell me what 8 strands of 24 gauge wire adds up to? It's what I'm currently using (8x24awg on both pos. and neg. so 16x24awg overall? Not sure how it works. The internet has been unhelpful)

Uberdine, in this wire gauge table AWG 24 is indicated as having a resistance of 25.67 ohms per thousand feet. Eight of them in parallel would have a resistance of 25.67/8 = 3.21 ohms per thousand feet. As you can see in the table that is very close to the resistance of AWG 15. So each of your two conductors is approximately equivalent to AWG 15.

Regards,
-- Al

Ozzy, your onto the real deal. I agree with your findings based on recent endeavors.

With the exception of my interconnects (copper/silver alloy, stranded) my power and speaker cables use solid core conductors.

The power cables are ~15 gauge DIY Home Depot-style solid core wires, twisted and non-shielded. These are connected sans powerstrip so that the respective conductor-ends (lead, return and ground wire) are tightened directly to each other via screw terminals.

Speaker cables are Mundorf's ~15 gauge Silver/gold (99% silver; 1% gold) solid core wires, teflon insulated, and tightly spaced in a pure cotton outer sleeve. As an on/off experiment these are connected in (single-wire) parallel mode with Mundorf copper foil coil-"wires" (28*0.07mm = ~14 gauge), with the foils more loosely spaced.

A friend gave me this tip, and while initially I was somewhat reluctant into following his advice - for no other reason really than ill-based skepticism (I'm no "techie") - I must say this combination of copper foil and silver/gold wire offers a very satisfying result as well. Compared to the silver/gold wires alone leading edges here seem sharper, less smeared; low end appears better integrated and more coherent, likely because of better very low end control and mid bass energy; mids have slightly more texture, fullness and presence, and the highs are a bit smoother with more substance.

Overall the sense of quickness, coherency, lack of smear, and presence/texture is more outspoken - in a sense a more intimate presentation, but without the soundstage being restricted as such.

I'd be very interested in knowing from others who've experimented with parallel speaker cable runs in single-wire configuration (solid core, preferably :)), particularly with different conductor materials and/or overall cable geometry.