Speaker cables.. Budget again.. With a twist...

Yes, don't 'blind' your ears, go with Home Depot. Second yes, keep the lengths equal. I've had the ability to compare 12 gauge HD wire in my system with equal lengths of a pair of cables costing $5,500.00. No contest, HD sounded much better. The mid range particularly was better. If you do decide to fall off the cliff and go for a high end cable, find a dealer that will give you a loaner. Then do the HD compare.

Buconero17 and Bdgregory - very nice advice. It is refreshing to hear persons give advice that results in no waste of money on the part of the consumer. I can find no scientific reason to choose one cable over the other for the same guage wire or to choose silver, gold, titanium, uranium, lead, platinum, or any other metal over copper. Hence, buy the inexpensive copper cable. If you posed some of the questions you see on the web- i.e. should one pick the $25 per foot cable over the $20 per foot cable because the former "has more punch," to my former associates (spent many years as a practicing engineer working with other engineers, and yes, I mean engineers, we all had BSEE's or MSEE's, not guys with 'engineer' on their company shirt) I can picture the laughter, particularly if the explanations were included for why the expensive cables were better than the inexpensive cables. Anyway nice advice, you did a service to those who may otherwise needlessly waste money. I concur, go with the home depot stuff, good price, will work fine, and except for the placebo effect, it will sound as good as the $5000 cables. (actually to make the home depot sound even better than the $5000 cable, attach a price tag to each cable, highly visible, and write $6000 on the tag - wallah - a $6000 cable, a whole $1000 better than the $5000 cable and will really show itself when the amp is cranked all the way to eleven.

Musicnoise the word is voila, not wallah. Engineers can't spell worth a darn.

Obviously a degree in engineering(of any kind) does nothing for one's auditory perception. If I couldn't hear the difference (in sound stage width/depth, imaging, transparency, dynamics) between my Wireworld Eclipse cables and Home Depot extension cords- I'd sell my equipment, buy an old Pioneer rig and subscribe to Stereo Review. I'm certain everything still sounds the same to them, even though old, deaf Julian is gone. I've often wished I were as hearing impaired as others appear to be. That would leave a lot of cash for other pursuits.(Gee, was all that inflammatory?) Considering your budget: The HD wire should do you justice as long as you get the heaviest gauge available, and keep the lengths equal. You might try using the ground wire to double the gauge of your + conductor(can't hurt). As mentioned: Don't coil any excess, or you just created an inductor. With the HD wire, you can still afford some good terminations.

Obviously a degree in engineering(of any kind) does nothing for one's auditory perception.

Of course the key word here is "perception." I would argue that the knowledge gained through acquiring an electrical engineering degree would affect one's hearing "perception." Understanding electron flow through wire could leave one with certain preconceived notions.
Given your tone, auditory ability might better suit your statement.