whats the very best sounding cables for realistic money

In my friends system the speaker cables was mediocre he dumped it pretty quick maybe its great in lesser resolution systems.Im using Purist and Furutech power cords they were much better than my Stealth V14 and V12 speaker cables. Cables are largely system dependent.Well good luck with the Anti cables as in many cases you get what you pay for at least i can say that with Purist and Furutech.Good luck though.

I was doing similar speaker research as the OP not long ago, and would like to add to something geoffkait said earlier regarding a specific speaker brand using common extension cord as speaker cable at a trade show.
Whilst doing the research, I stumbled across this site:
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/whitelightning/moonshine.html
I am not affiliated with this site nor is this an endorsement of it (they don't sell stuff, so this is no veiled sales pitch).
It seemed like a low-risk proposition, so I made up a set of cables for my system - which by no means is a high-level barn burner, but it sounds pretty damned decent to me.  I found some white cord that matched the spec (which looks, really, quite nice coming off the speakers and disappearing into the rack) and I did go with bare wire at the speaker terminal.  To provide some point of reference, my system consists of:

Denon AVR-X4000 (mid-level A/V receiver)
Hafler DH220 w/full Musical Concepts ugrade for front L/R
Magenpan MMG fronts
Adcom GFA6000 for center/surrounds
Paradigm Phantom v2 surrounds, Magnepan MMG-C center
Rhythmik FG12 (Audiogon classifieds find)
Denon DCD 1500 CD player
Akai GX-280D reel-to-reel
ADC Sound Shaper SS-325X (for reel)
Monoprice 22AWG interconnects across the board

As a self-taught guitar player (40+ years) and low-grade "audiophile", I consider myself to have a relatively "trained" ear.  I get "imaging", "soundstage","airy", "bloated", "boomy", etc.  And I'll be damned if these low-cost, extension cord speaker cables didn't add to an already good-sounding system.  I got expanded soundstage dimension, depth, clarity, tightened mid-bass.......it added a sparkle and sharpness that even my wife and son noticed after about 30 seconds of listening.  Would these speaker cables add anything to a high end system?  Can't say.  But if you've got the bread to burn on thousand-dollar cables, you certainly have it to burn on something such as these DIY-ers that could give you a really, really pleasant surprise.  I know I got one, and will be hard-pressed to re-visit the "which speaker cable?" conundrum ever again.

Hi Mains,
These are a bit outside the price range you were looking for. Hands down best cable for the money - you might want to check them out for the next time you get an itch. Just throwing in my $0.01 
www.tonarm.ch

All things being equal, white cords or cables always sound better than black or any other color. Don't believe me? Just use white electrical tape and apply to whatever cord or cable you're currently using.

You could always try building your own.

I assembled my Low-Inductance braided bi-wire design based on the work I found here:
http://diyaudioprojects.com/Power/Low-Inductance-DIY-Speaker-Cables/

I am pleased with them for the $200 or so I have invested in two 12ft runs of bi-wire/bi-amp capable

http://i.imgur.com/oydXxGV.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/iZP4z0j.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/1yYzYFT.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/PBSX4mH.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/6Ojdycn.jpg

Finished cables
http://i.imgur.com/oTpp6OI.jpg