Budget re-cabling

Signal Cable.

Frank is the consummate gentleman and knows his business.

I have personally spent much more, and gotten much less.

pinetreeaudio makes cables of all types, custom lengths, construction, connectors, very reasonable prices

https://sites.google.com/view/pine-tree-audio/speaker-cables/speaker-cables?authuser=0

small diameter, individually insulated strands, I used to use 8 wire (2 lines) telephone wire.

Now I make my own using OCC copper Cat8 cables, simply cut the connectors off, add WBT or other high quality connectors on. (similar but better than the old Cat 5 you described.

here’s a quickie find

https://www.ebay.com/itm/394460784966?var=663011200983&hash=item5bd7b1e946:g:zuoAAOSwj51jNUF9&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAwBjwJuDYijSqOv%2FyGMxWSa8k6btHFi%2FyynKwuX9FoCbAPqhnejbLHa%2F%2F5IYpUM57WjoZPZAx3vurbPEXi6o0XgdCnJKcsPRSRZteU7YcT0yLrFqXmrZV9HqFbo6gLSgGcFZ3d8SA2DJAUwUvgN6VMRl841CgJ4UW%2FlFQKsBh3e5IFFMZa%2FhPZCnWZryEH4Ebi7%2BM5Ayh7hm569IdcNm%2F0kafBnWPHYonHvXsxURTXfCXiK2Yy4SvubCWdD3QmFdfSA%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-Cc-u_oYQ

NOTE: make sure the conductors are pure copper, some, only the connectors are.

AWG gauge calculator

https://www.wirebarn.com/Combined-Wire-Gauge-Calculator_ep_42.html

i.e. 26awg x 8 strands = 17awg, much more than enough for home use lengths

If you're curious about going old school, look at 10 gauge Blue Jeans Cables at a little more than a couple of bucks a foot would be worth a comparison.

I've been having a great experience with a brand called "World's Best Cables" shopping on Amazon. They give you choices for a lot of combination of cable and connector. I've replaced most or my older cables with this brand and they are not expensive. Probably the same price if I tried to buy the components and their assembly process may be superior to the home hobbyist.