[Atol]

Just a quick question, how important are speaker stands? As of right now I'm using some cheap wood Sanus stands for my speakers. Is the lack of isolation really detrimental to the performance of my speakers?

[kfr01]

Do they spike?  Are they heavy?  Is there an easy way to add mass?

The short answer is that I doubt you'll find a comprehensive study of the effects of speaker stands out there.

People say that stands make a difference, but IMO there's no need to spend a lot of money on speaker stands.  There are steps you can take to make any stand better.

First, spike the feet, if they aren't already.
Second, add mass, add mass, and add mass.  The heavier the thing is, the less it'll move.
Third, build some DIY stands, if you feel your current stands are grossly inadequate.  

MDF, glue, sandpaper, and paint are pretty darn cheap.  Make a chamber you can fill with sand, and they'll outperform anything you can find on the market for less than $50 for both stands.  

[Bill Baker]

In my opinion, YES, stands can make a difference. A big difference. This can easily be proved by going down to your local dealer and having them use different types of stands with everything else remaining equal.

 BUT.... as krf01 mentioned, you can improve upon stands you already own without spending a fortune. A good speaker stand is in the design, not always the $$ spent. Keep in mind there are also a lot of variables where one design might work better for your application than another.

 The experimentation is half the fun.

[Eduardo AAVM]

It s interesting what some magazines do in Germany, they measure stands (resonance), and they also review how a speaker sounds over it...

Let me find if I can get you a copy of that reeview it is very interesting, I have never seen something like that .

[Folsom]

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/stubby_e.html

Mass and spikes help.