How much money on speaker cable?

I'll second and third reccomendations for Analysis Plus and DH Labs as good bang for the buck and appropriate for your system.

I've gone from $1,200 Nordost SPM Reference to $300 Pure Note Cerulean speaker cables to finance a PMC subwoofer purchase. There was very little sacrifice in sound quality in swapping cables but a huge jump in sonics in adding the subwoofer. I would agree with the idea of not spending too much on cables and focusing more on components. $250 would buy you a good decent cable that should do well in your system. The rule of thumb is to spend about 10%-15% the total cost of your system on cables(which include speaker cable and interconnects).

I´d suggest you to try Evidence Audio Cables. They are made originally for electric guitar, bass or musical instrument amps. They sound very controlled and neutral and they are cheaper than the so called "high end" cables. This triggers an interesting question: Why electric instrument amps and cables, with the same complex or not craftmanship, are cheaper than "high end" equipment?

Defintiely check out Clear Day Solid Core Speaker Cables. Outstanding value and less than $500

If you like fashionable cables look at VooDoo Cable, they look like they have some nice products. If it was not for the economy slump affecting my income I would switch from my Cardas Neutral Reference. Like a woman, my system has to look as good as the performance.