In the late 80's I purchased satellite speakers with a subwoofer. I decided to make my own stands, but first I corresponded with the speaker manufacturer to see if my proposed stands were good enough. I got the goahead so got 8" square concrete blocks. I put a square of wood on the bottom with some nails poking up into the block. I placed an 18" galvanized pipe in the center and poured concrete to hold it all together. I screwed on a plumbing pipe gizmo that had four holes for screws to attach a piece of wood. The speakers had four holes in the bottom to secure them. I drilled holes larger than the screws and set 3 inverted metal cones under the speakers. For 18 years I used these stands. I, then, changed to Harbeth 7ES2's and made new pieces of wood the size of their bottoms. Since there were no screw holes on the bottom and I didn't want the Harbeths to precariously sit on the inverted cones I looked for an option. A reviewer said he used 'blue tak' and, when I checked it out on the web it seemed the best way to go. I was happy with the result. A few months later I lifted one of the speaker stands to move it and a large piece of the oak wood under the speaker came off in my hand. I decided that rather than replace it I would check out speaker stands. Harbeth recommended Skylan speaker stands. I went to their site at www.skylanstands.com and ordered their SKY-20D's. It took a bit of time to get them (they take specs at order time and, then, tailor make them). When they arrived I had to fill the legs with sand (a damnable chore because the sand I got from Home Depot had enough moisture to keep jamming up the funnel).

I then put the stands into position and put on a CD. I wish there was a picture of my face. I've done a lot of tweaking over the years and nothing compares with this change. It was like you had been listening in another rooom and, then, walked into the room where the speakers were. I play a lot of classical piano and the timbre of the strings was suddenly beautifully 'ripe'. The timbre of viols was also enhanced......in particular the celli. Overall bass response was improved. I still find it hard to believe that speaker stands can make such a difference.....never occured to me.