looking for interconnect under 200 dollars

Anyone who tells you that cables will magically transform your system is smoking crack.

I think of it from a different perspective. It is not so much that a cable can magically transform a system but rather that so many cables out there can instantly destroy the capabilities of a top-tier system.

Many of the cables recommended here are indeed good. But when you get to the top tier performing systems where the focus is midrange textures, natural decays, portrayal of space, etc., such cables quickly show their subtractive nature.

what does someone do with all of the opinions/recommendations ?....

Suggestions provide for a good starting point as to what products to be on the lookout for audition. The more suggestions that I see for a given product, the higher that product resides on my "to-audition" list.

The system for which the cable (or any product) is under evaluation greatly influences the "value" of a suggestion. If I am assembling a Rotel/NAD system for which I need cables, I am not likely to pay much attention to all the praise from owners of "high performance" cables. And if I looking to assemble a system that nails the tonality and harmonic structure of the piano, I am not likely to pay much attention to cable suggestions that get a lot of praise from a Rotel/NAD system owner. It's all relative to what we currently have and what we are looking to improve upon with our next system update.