Who makes budget speaker cables which are truly “good” or “exceptional” in quality?

Another vote for Clear day. Double shotgun.
Fantastic.

I try not to spend a lot on cables either.  +1 for Anticables.  They beat the Canare cables I got from Blue Jeans in both my main system as well as in a more moderately priced secondary system.  I can't say I noticed much of a difference between the Canare cables and the cheaper wire they replaced.

Pick up some oxygen free 12 gauge at Monoprice http://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=2747 and lay them in the Listening Room along with any other manufacturer’s cables and if you don’t hear the difference then put the money you save towards better speakers, or back in your pocket.

Clear Day Double Shotgun
JW Cryo Nova
Canare 4S11

Last week, I went to pick up a subwoofer from a guy that I had bought it from via an online forum. 

He lives in a huge huge mansion in an exclusive neighborhood. He makes a living by designing hi end cable for the Pentagon. 

I thought he he would be the perfect person to pop the question: are expensive speaker cable and audio interconnects worth the money?

He said that for high frequencies in military applications that are beyond what the human ear can hear, yes. For home audio, they make no difference. Cheap Radio Shack cable is fine.