interconnect vs speaker cable

Start with the interconnect. The signal path starts there.
Buy the most expensive cable you can afford, after a lengthy trial period of sampleing different brands and levels of those brands. I love Cardas, but not all their cables deliver the same benefits. Other considerations, assuming your tastes are as mine and that is I like a very analytical and detailed sound. I am not a "warm/mushy" listener. That said, try Harmonic Technology, Analysis Plus, come to mind as alternatives for a neutral non-colored sound.

The sad thing about this hobby is that "the most expensive (fill in the blank for any component here) that you can afford" is not always the best sounding product available to you. More often then not I've found that "more expensive is better" is rarely true, and the law of diminishing returns is a carnal law. In my own system I've cut the MSRP value almost in half on most pieces whilst dramatically IMPROVING the sound through experimentation with well reviewed cheaper components! Lots of hype in this hobby, lots of ego, only thing to go by ultimately is your own ears, which means you must try different things on your own at home.

That said, biggest change I've heard is with interconnects. But in talking any cables the sound changes very minimally, relatively speaking say a few percentage points worth, and how people write multiple pages or even a full page review of a cable boggles my mind.

To answer the question directly, everything else being equal, I believe it is much harder to get an adequate speaker cable than it is to get an adequate interconnect. So I would not skimp on the speaker cable, I would skimp on the interconnect. This is just based on experience, no science.

The biggest priority when shopping should be to maximize the quality of the pieces closest to the source. Great speaker cable will not be able to add what your interconnect did not deliver. That is why your source equipment is always more important than your speakers (all things being equal:). See my reviews of Purist ICs if you are interested in more of this type of conversation.

Look at it this way:

1. Everything between source and speaker distorts the signal in some way.
2. No cable can return a distortion to its original state.
3. The closest thing to your source is the first to distort.

Since the speaker cable cannot correct whatever your interconnect flux up, the IC would take priority IMO.

All things being = , of course...