Extremely budget minded system for under $500.00 ?

Grannyring -- a small point: the cable doesn't "sound". By linking components, it makes THESE "sound" one way or another.
The same cable. As you know, it can often sound one way with one system & another way with another system.

You know the drill: output stage, wire, connector, plug, wire, plug, connector, input stage. Impedance, capacitance, contact material, resistance, wire material, diametre, stray noise & fields, you name it... all these act as variables.

One of the selling points of "expensive" cables is to try to limit these effects and sound more or less similar fm one system to another...
Cheers

Good basic cables, even older ones do make a big difference. I loaned some Audioquest IC's and speaker cable to a guy that had a Kenwood rack system a few years back and the $70 worth of cables I loaned him doubled his sound quality.

He got too excited though and decided to spend $400 on cables and his system wasn't up to it so it only sounded 10% better than the $70 cable package.

2nd the Denon UD-M31 only $300 new. I'd spend the $200 on better speakers.
Radio Shack DOES sell great speaker cable in the form of magnet wire for ~$3.50. Twist a few strands together with a hand drill and strip the enamel off the ends. Hi purity, polished surface finish, virtually NO dielectric, can't get much better than this, especially for low powered Denon mini-system.

Buying a minisystem and discarding the speakers defeats the purpose of a minisystem. You can buy better electronics for less.

An older 80's Sony "Legato" Rec. or a 70's Pioneer Rec. An ADS L400/500 spk. Energy XL-16/Tannoy MX1-M or newer "Fusion" 1 spk. . Plateau stands filled w/lead shot/sand,etc. Tara labs Prism 33i Interconnects or Straightwire's entry-level IC's/ spk. wire. Kimber 4VS spk. wire/ AQ Type 2 or 4 spk. wire. Inexpensive DVD/CD Player as mentioned by others. Can easily be bought under your budget and if you're able to find the ADS L500 spk. do not hestitate. An awesome sounding spk! A system such as this will really make you wonder why anyone would need to spend anything more!