which speaker cables to buy?

I have had very good results with transparent audio cables;
I bought used and was very pleased with the results.
I think you need to follow some of the above advice with research,maybe even try some of the companies that allow home auditions,if their is a local audio club in your area talk with some of the members;I have always found members like to audition their systems and talk audio with people.

Garypic,

In trying to set a budget for speakers cables I would say no more that 10% of the combined price of your speakers and amp. Basically if your amp is worth a $1000, speakers worth $1000, that's $2000 ....... so 10% would give you a $200 budget for speakers cables. Which is from a price/performance perspective is were you want to be. If you spend much more you would be better off upgrading either amp or speakers. Not knowing what components you have it's hard to make a suggestion of "just what" cables would be best. Myself I've had good results with Audioquest (I have the AQ CV6 w/DBS that I pick up for $100 used) and really haven't felt the need to "experiment" with other speaker cables. Now if I was doing it all over again, I would probably go with speaker cables made by companies such Signal Cable and Blue Jean Cables has their products seem well made, affordable, and work quite well and as such have gotten a good reputation in the audio community. While I certainly agree that good cables make a difference on how well one's system sounds, I also believe you should spend as little a possible to get desired sonic results. Unfortunately when dealing in the "World of Wires" it's very easy to go overboard and spend much more than necessary.

I had very good results with Anti Cables at $10/foot. check em out!

garypic, what is your entire system? include present interconnects as well.

If you're a person of modest income like myself who prioritizes family needs and buying quality healthy foods, I'd just buy cables from sellers like Blue Jean Cables (and the other sellers out there that sell decent, quality cables sans the bluster).