10 percent for cables ???

10% is good maximum budget guideline - although you can spend a lot less and it will often be just fine. If you have spent more than this on all your cables and interconnects then you might have been better served by upgrading components /speakers/room acoustics instead.

I think the tendency is to under spend on cables and purchase "better" components to upgrade the sound resulting in spending more than one would have on an "expensive" cable upgrade and the maximizing of the current components potential.

Buy used and keep the cables that work best in your system and that you can afford. Don't worry about the percentages.

thank you all very much. i wasn't concerned so much with the exact percentage per se, but as stated above 10% seemed to be a good guidline as any more and one might want to begin looking into upgrading components(and then cables, and then components, and then, and then...). i do understand how everything is system and room dependant, but getting 5 sets of speaker, 3 hdmi, 4 power cords, and 5 interconnects for under $400 is is proving hard to pull off. and as far as a new kitchen, i wouldn't put a $100,000 kitchen in a $250,000 house. i'd never get a return on my investment. i'd buy a better house.

10% is only a rule of thumb and not carved in stone. spend what you want on cables. shit! for all i care, spend more on your cables than you did on your system. knock yourself out!