Cheapest but good cables….

Oh, and I’m looking for flexible cables that will lay kind of flat under a carpet. I had an old Naim preamp that could only be used with Naim cables and these were like trying to lay plastic water pipes - stiff and looping - I want to avoid that.

Cables are system dependent. So, without knowing which speakers you have, its hard to give you any meaningful advice.Also, you should take any such advice with ’two graints of salt’ if its provided by somebody who has not listen the combination of amp/speaker that you have.If you could try cables before buying, it would be best solution for you...perhaps loaning first from some friend or a friendly dealer or from Cable co. Do not hesitate to buy sh product...sometimes, older, discounted top models are worth finding...

@thomastrouble   read a couple of posts by member lak in the below linked thread , one of the posts also includes a review video . Maybe these will suit your taste and will satisfy your budget

System is Benchmark AHB2 with Benchmark DAC3 preamp. I have Totem 1 bookshelf speakers but may use Paradigm S2V2 after comparing.

Dont have the luxury of testing out different cables - I moved to Brazil and am bringing components here bit by bit. Cables will be about 12 feet maximum.

Hard pressed to beat Mogami for cheapest and best.  Here on Audiogon is a small builder doing speaker cables and interconnects with Neutrik connectors.  I ran a pair of his balanced on a 30K pair of active speakers and they rocked.

Or you can order plain speaker wire non-terminated.  

Hey, for less than $3.00/ft. You cannot go wrong.  These run a pair of Mordaunt-Short 10 monitors.

Thanks for that Celtic!

I usually use Mogami too, but I lashed out on some of this:
 

Of course you need to dress the ends yourself… exactly the same as using Mogami.
I think that the Benchmark has SpeakOn connectors??
If so Neutrik SpeakOn is easy, and their stuff is nice to work with.

I am not sure that the cotton is better than Mogami, but it gives you some other option to consider.

I went for cotton as there is no teflon and a lower dielectric constant than the plastic insulation. So I considered it like a po-man’s battery biased AQ speaker cable… Just rather than a battery, I am using a dielectric with does not polarise.

Flat speaker cables? Nordost. 
Interconnects that you can hid under the rug? Balanced BlueJeans. I actually prefer them to Mogami as they’re slightly more laid back and are less harsh. Mogami Studio Gold XLRs were ok but not great in my system with benchmark dac3 hgc. 

Just buy the cheapest Morrow ICs that are long enough for your use. They lay flat and are transparent enough.

The Micca cables Lak mentions in the above referenced thread are worth try.

I've been running a 6' pair at the computer since mid October, 2022.

It's not a high end  system, but it's a nice sounding nearfield setup.

I've used Kimber 4VS and 4TC speaker cable with the same components in the past and prefer the inexpensive Micca cable.

This was older Kimber (Gray/Black and Blue/Black - I think).

I purchased a 12' pair to try in the living room system, but have to add binding posts to the speaker cabinets before doing so (I currently use 47 Labs OTA cable soldered directly to wide band single drivers).

DeKay

Nordost for flat cables but 12ft might be more than you want to part with, if so maybe AudioQuest. Canare for interconnects which BlueJeans sells. If you can keep your speaker cables above the carpet, Canare is a good choice. 

Here, you can buy 100M of an unterminated flat cable.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804705840934.html?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_promotion.promoteWysiwyg_6000378480293.1&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa4itemAdapt&_randl_shipto=US

According to an established member here who’s compared this to higher $$$ cables this is very good…

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ5HCTM?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&amp&th=1

+1 dekay

Blue Jeans is your answer. Solid product and well built, super reasonable prices. If you want to experiment later when you have some spare cash, you can, but these will provide a good baseline. 

Check out the thread Counterfeit Chinese Cables. Look for my posts. I tried one, then another, then another of the Odin 2 cables, and remain absolutely thrilled

Many good options given here. Another to ponder is the Duelund DCA 12. It seems to check off all of your requests.

I'm completely satisfied with it in my pretty nice set up having beat out Western Electric vintage, Anti-Cable level 2, and Kimber 8TC shotgun so convincingly I feel no need to look any further at speaker cables going forward.

   LP

Thanks for all of this guys, a lot to consider!

Duelund DCA 12 is excellent.  Run that currently with ATC 20 passives.  But not as cheap as Mogami at $17/m from Parts Connexion.  It comes as a single wire, so pricing is a bit deceiving as you need calculate 2Xs for one speaker.  2m length each side is actually 8m to achieve.  Best of luck achieving your goals.  Cheers

Belden (BJ uses it; 10-12 awg) or mogami speaker / interconnect cables are all good.  For Belden 10 awg one (5T00UP), Parts Express is 20% cheaper if you buy the raw wire and build yourslef.

Blue Jeans, Belden. I have a ton of it here. PM me I may have a length you are looking for. 

Signal Cable: USA small biz, Frank is great to deal with. Very good cost/quality/performance ratio. 

Not sure any standard cable is suitable for under carpet unless designed for that, which Nordost is not.

holmz    Better be good wire.  Just ordered 24' of it.  Should be fun.  Thanks for info.

+1 on the Blue Jeans cable suggestions, Iconoclast BAV is the next step up in that product line, also flexible; also an excellent value.

Triode Wire Labs out of NYC.  The owner and cables are exceptional.

+1 @macg19

Signal Cable: USA small biz, Frank is great to deal with. Very good cost/quality/performance ratio.

Ran his Silver Resolution Reference’s throughout system for many years before moving on. Kept, and still use all his PC’s though :-)

Frank also customizes for those unordinary applications.

I also vote for Blue Jeans cables.

Kimber Kable’s newest version of 8PR (their least expensive, incorporating their "varistrand" wire design) cables are amazing...bought a 13.5 foot pair recently and they might be the least expensive speaker cables I’ve ever owned...killer, and great specs for longer runs...flexible but delivering a 9 gauge per leg mojo to the party.

I have had great results with Audio-Envy cables.  The newest iterations are flat and their prices are very reasonable.  Cap Payne will help you with these.  He's a great guy and I believe he has a 30-day return policy too.  They're the best cables I've had so far in my system. 

Actually being used under carpet is one of the features highlighted on Nordost's website. I've used it quite successfully for years.

I have no experience with them, but Benchmark’s own cables seem to be reasonably priced, and are available with their preferred  somewhat non-standard for most residential use connectors.

I think BJC (Blue Jeans Cables) located near Seattle, WA, offers great cables without all the snake oil.  Made in Custom Lengths and they try to source US manufacturers for actual cables and connectors. My go-to cables for decades. I have never been disappointed. 

I recently purchased and am running a Don Sachs II preamp.  Love it.  Dons' pre amps do not run a balanced out put so I need a RCA interconnect.  Don recommended a cable called Ice Age Audio.  As a cable snob, I reluctantly ordered a four foot RCA IC, let it cook a couple of days on my cooker and then about 200 hours on a second system to burn it in....transferred it to my main rig and was very pleased to find I had lost nothing....micro details, soundstage spaciousness, air around sonic images, dynamics and tonality are all there.  This cable was $165.  less than an after market fuse!  Very impressive.

I’ll second Triode Wire Labs

Schmitt Custom Cables is reasonable, fast and Jim is a pleasure to work with.  He can build essentially whatever you want, whatever level of quality and price.  The website schmittcustomcables.com is expanded and easy to use, but I often order custom beyond what's shown there, all it takes is an email and generally get them 3 days or so.  

Oops, linked directly to product page in the first attempt to post and it was removed.  My bad.

Speaker cable: perennial favorite “budget” cable, Audioquest Type 4 in plain wrapper from Audio Advisor.

Interconnects: Black Shadow available here on Audiogon or Music Strada #211 Interconnects By Nanotec Systems.

If these are all over budget, then other suggestions for Bluejeans cable are no regrets very low cost alternatives.

@audphile1 I tried the Mogami Gold XLRs in my high end system between my $9K DAC and pre-amp.  Oy vey!  Yes, they sounded neutral, clean and clear.  Great for recording studios I guess, not for home audio.  My ICs with transformer XLR box and just using RCAs KILL the Mogamis.  The Mogami Gold lack 3D soundstaging, depth and especially dynamic contrasts and tonal splendor.  They are more akin to cardboard cutouts than live, breathing music.  

@fuzztone Good call! The Morrows will sound better with more presence and less veiled than the BJC’s as well...

"Just buy the cheapest Morrow ICs that are long enough for your use. They lay flat and are transparent enough."

I'd suggest Audience , OHNO III

+1 @liquidsound. . . . . . I also use Audio Envy flat speaker cables. love em.

You might consider Vogue Audio speaker cables. A bargain for what they are. I was attracted to the silver composition and their rather outrageous willingness to publish specs which almost no one will or, as I understand it, can. To my ear, they are detailed and quite dimensional; you may be able to follow secondary melodic lines that you couldn’t pick out before. If there is a specific weakness, the bass might be described as “polite” although I would be more inclined to use the term “refined”. Best wishes; if you could try everything available ( and I would love to help you) you could fill up a warehouse. 

I have had great results with Canare 4S11 speaker cables and Belden 8428 or 8402 interconnects.

Mogami lead VERY helpful, giving them a shot at the great price celtic66 shared here.

Another vote for Audio Envy. Only used their power cables, P2 and M3, but they are very flexible and sound fantastic. In my case, they beat $1k power cables that are just gathering dust now and need to be sold.

SVS has some good quality to price ratio cables. Their Soundpath Ultra gives a good bang for the buck. As usual it all comes down to how much you want to spend.  Cheap but good interconnect cables are made by Worlds Best Cable using Canare or Mogami cables and Amphenol interconnects. They are grounded on one side only so they have a certain way to be connected (comes with an arrow on a cloth tuff on each side showing the way the signal goes). 

I use Canare Starquad and Mogami IC with Switchcraft and ETI RCA’s in an ESL / analogue system. For speaker cable, consider Goertz, which is flat, and optimal for many magnetic speakers (high capacitance, low inductance). Neither is expensive relative to the name brands.

I also have AQ Type 8 and Rocket 33s (the 33s used for a biwire experiment), both pairs too short for my current hifi setup but both of those sound great. Morrow SP4s are really nice also and mine were moved to my video rig. I use Canare 4S11s for my subs (easy to make a pair for RELs, and they’re nice cables especially if you can find the braided covered version). The Kimber 8PRs are better than any of these, although the Canare cable works better with Neutrik plugs.

These are moderately priced cables that perform beyond their price point and just might work well for your specific circumstances:

Goertz Cables & Audio Equipment | Bridgeport Magnetics

I'm not sure if it still holds, but they used offer free home trials. I strongly suggest ordering the RC networks (zobels) with the speaker cables.