Well, to turn this in to something useful (ha), I use Tire Rack's reviews (both customer and their own) and charts to make a decision. I would say after buying maybe 10 sets of tires through them, their observations generally mirror my own. Sometimes they aren't the cheapest but on the whole they seem to be a quality outfit and stand behind their product so that's worth a little more in my book.
As far as cost vs. quality, it's an interesting scale. Low end (less expensive) does not necessarily mean low quality. For example, I value traction and handling, cost, tread life, and tire noise in that order. I have been buying Continental ContiSport Contact (I think that's what it's called, would have to look) which IIRC is considered high performance to ultra high performance all season tire. It definitely delivers in dry and wet traction, and is even more than acceptable in snow. However it is a noisy sumb*tch with some miles on it (note, I do not know if this is the tire, my rotation schedule, or the alignment quirks of my particular car). I have noticed this also with similar Kumho and Falken products. However, since I know what I value, it is an acceptable trade off to have a tire which is about half the cost of a moderately high end well-known brand name tire. Also it helps that it is a common size (225/45R17), which will tend to lower tire costs. If you know what you are looking for it's a compromise in optimisation like everything else.