BEST INTERCONNECT FOR $25 EACH?

Check out the Audio cables at Cable Solutions 
Sturdy and seems to be in your price range. 

https://www.cs1.net/products/cables.htm

One consideration is how rich your radio environment is.

You don't want radio and TV and cel traffic and UHF (ultra-high frequency) in your audio signal. If you have a lot of that in your neighbourhood, then you need a high quality copper shield to keep the crap out, and a star quad cable configuration to neutralize what comes through the shield.

Premium microphone cables do this. Canare Starquad is very good. I've used that a lot, but the dielectric is teflon, and you should be careful when soldering near that. Think industrial grade fume hood. Mogami 2534 is a starquad configuration, and it too is very good, does not use teflon, and the shield is easier to terminate. I use Belden braided shield, and it too is very good, but I haven't used their cable in ages.

While any premium microphone cable will serve, I would stick with Mogami 2534. If you are terminating with RCA connectors, connect both the blue wires to the centre pins, both white wires to the outer rings (or vice versa). Connect the shield to the outer ring at the amplifier end only.

Conventional solder with silver content is the standard - this is not silver solder, which is a completely different thing, more of an industrial process. WBT makes a good one, available from Parts Connexion and probably Michael Percy Audio.

I make my own cables like this, and use them in a high end system. Good luck!

Hold on Terry, I think I may be seeing things This looks too good to be true. They show Canare F-9s with the Starquad but I don’t see mention of them or a drop down to select the connects.

https://m.markertek.com/product/sc3rryw/canare-star-quad-audio-cable-rca-male-to-rca-male-3-foot-yel...

Yep. Looks good - when I make cables out of this stuff, I use a better quality connector, usually Eichmann or WBT. But this stuff should get you 90% of the way for the price of parking.

Interesting, Canare are now using cross linked polyethylene dielectric instead of teflon; just like Mogami.

I would definitely buy this, and then trade up only after an in-home demo demonstrates a clear improvement; and then, only if you can't make a bigger improvement by upgrading something else.

Well spotted.

Thing is, Craig, cables are just another electrical machine, and not a very complex one at that. Doesn't mean anyone can design them - but it ain't Nobel Prize territory neither.

Thankfully, Eichmann (ETI) and WBT and Canare and Mogami have done all the work. It's ours to enjoy.