Do you consider cables to be a "component" of your system?

Do you consider cables to be a "component" of your system?  ...do you think that cabling (AC/InterConnects/SpeakerWire) should be considered a component that is integral to your system?

No, but I sort of agree with the analogy made by @soix 

...if you had to recommend a set up to someone (who wanted a nice stereo), would you consider cabling to be essential in your build price and your recommendations?

Yes, but only to the extent that cables are needed to operate the system.  However, not unlike equipment stands/racks, footers, room treatments, and other auxiliaries, cables can be changed/upgraded over time and very few here have purchased their "final" cables at the time they originally assembled their system components.

If so, would you consider the cost of the cables to be on par with the cost of a component?

Not even close.  I have found that different cables sound differently in my system but the impact cables have on the overall sound of the system IMO is much less than the impact of the individual components or speakers.  As with @norco74 , I have made my own cables for years from both manufactured bulk cables and from scratch, but I have also purchased manufactured cables at  mid to upper price ranges by companies like Cardas, PAD, Isoclean, Furutech, HT, AZ, TWL, and more.  Some, but not all, of the cables I have made myself have equaled those higher priced manufactured cables I have owned, and in some cases they bettered them (i.e., one of the interconnects I constructed is currently used by a well-regarded equipment manufacturer in their personal system).  My point is that cables do sound different but IMO spending a lot of money on cables is not a prerequisite or a guarantee of good sound.

@jasonbourne52 

The first person to invent a measuring system for these differences that the "golden ears" crowd claims to hear will qualify for the Nobel Prize in Physics!

The other day, somebody mentioned using animals to judge/rate cables because of their generally superior hearing.  

@bikeboy52 

”its just a no brainer“

Congratulations, your thought process about the importance of cables is exactly the outcome desired by the marketing departments of audio cable manufacturers. 

@bikeboy52

Good call out. I have always maintained that different cables sound differently, and I did like the sound of that USB cable, at that time. I still own it but have been using the TWL split USB lately. As an example of different sounding cables, I have tried a lot of speaker cables and I am partial to the sound of multiple, individually insulated, small gauge, solid core, OCC copper wires, in foamed PE, i.e., Harmonic Technplogy speaker cables. While I hear differences in cables, IMO they have nowhere near the impact on the sound of a system as the components and speakers, and after trying a bunch of manufactured cables and making quite a few of my own, I believe a lot of the marketing hype related to cables sets unrealistic expectations with the intent of leading buyers onto a continual upgrade merry-go-round. However, I am also fine with others who want to spend their money on expensive cables - to each their own.

Thanks for the comments about my system.  It has been a journey, and certainly some missteps on the way to achieving what I am happy with.  Along the way I found that, for me and the music I like, it is mostly (but not entirely) about tone and dynamic impact so my current rig does those really well.  

I have done a fair amount of DIY, and particularly wrt making cables, and so I was an early adopter of the Cable Cooker just to be sure that I was hearing the cables I made at their best without waiting a month for them to burn in. Back then, cable burn in seemed to be a big deal (and still is to some extent) so having a cooker was a necessity for any “serious” cable builder.  I admit that I still use it - maybe the longest continuous run of any single part of my system - shout out to Alan Kafton!

@ghdprentice - Yeah, SRA is a good company.  Mine are the Ohio-Class XL model.  I sold some Lamm amps to a gentleman who owned them and didn’t need them anymore so we made a trade plus cash deal.  They were the perfect size for my SMc amps so I sent them to SRA with detailed info about the SMc amps (weight, dimensional footer locations, and location of the heavy transformer) and they reconfigured the platforms (whatever that entails) so that they are a custom fit for my amps.  They also removed their tall’ish feet and replaced them with their low profile style feet so they fit on my stand.  They said it doesn’t matter what footers are under the amps if they are supported on the SRA platforms.