I have a budget setup - Marantz SR5200, Paradigm Focus speakers up front and an old school set of Realistic Optimus-27s (rears). I just hooked up with the Realistic speakers recently (they were my dads) and I need to wire them. I know speaker wire in a highly controversial subject but please keep in mind that I don't want to import anything from the US (duty fees have become astronomical) and probably only have access to the top selling brands here such as Monster and Audio Research and err...Radio Shack. What cables would match my setup and is it worth it to grab banana plugs and speaker pins?
At the risk of starting (yet another ;) )flame war, many of us believe wire is wire, and the main thing that you need to consider is just the wire size. For front speakers at the front of a room and rear speakers at the rear of the room 12 AWG (3.3mm2) is more than enough, 14 AWG (2.08mm2) will be just fine.
Longer runs, Stick with 12 AWG. All this assumes no other over-riding factors (look / UL requirements / feeling the need to spend at least $50 per metre / shielding etc...)