You will get the full range of opinions on cables in this forum so I'm going to add my experience to the chaos.
When I test interconnects (RCA or XLR) I use a control to diminish Expectation Bias. I have two CD players (Marantz SA8005 and PS Audio PerfectWave transport + MK. II DAC) that sound virtually identical. The way I test a pair of interconnects is to listen to both players with the same CD, establish the sonic baseline, replace a pair of interconnects, and listen again to see if I can hear a difference. Thus far I haven't found a pair of wires that sounds significantly better or worse. I even bought a pair of silver RCA interconnects for several hundred dollars because audiophiles swore that silver had a different sound. Nope - they sound the same.
Regarding speaker wires, I have compared audiophile speaker wires against 16 gauge zip cord and I thought I could hear a small difference so I stuck with the fancy wires. I would like to have the opportunity to compare them in a blind test someday - I suspect that they might sound the same under those circumstances. The expensive wires are much nicer and I like looking at them which makes my whole system sound better (that was only a partial sarcasm).
I have two pieces of specific advice. 1) Blue Jeans Cables are the standard in my experience for well made affordable cables. They actually test the wire they use to optimize the characteristics of the cables for audio use. They are also very well made. If you go with Blue Jeans you can be comfortable that you have wires that will not harm the sound of your system. 2) If you want to experiment with cables it is important to buy used so you can resell them if you don't hear a difference. There are lots of used cables on the various used audio sites. You can also work with Usedcable.com who has a great selection and a workable return policy.
The most important factor in listening to cables is to manage Expectation Bias. It has been proven over and over that we hear with our eyes and brain more than our ears. If you are told (or you believe) that a certain cable makes the treble sound clearer, you will hear that effect when you listen to it. However, if you then participate in a blind test you will find that you cannot hear the difference between that cable and another one. There is a huge body of research on this phenomenon.
I am not anti-cables and my view is that if someone hears a positive difference between one cable and another (or lifting then off the floor) then that is all that matters. The difference is real for them. The point is that you have to trust your own experience and be careful to not be swayed by the manufacturer's and other audiophile's claims regarding how a cable sounds. If a $1000 interconnect sounds better than a $50 interconnect then by all means buy it if you can afford it. But for someone starting out in this hobby a healthy skepticism is important because spending big bucks on cables will not buy you nearly as much sound improvement as spending that money on speakers and other gear.
