Geez, Ed! I was looking for some FRIENDLY advice, not a rant about why I'm an idiot for not paying $500+ for a pair of stands. To put it into perspective, the difference in price was considerably more than $200 when you consider that the Osiris stands were $299 including shipping and with NO TAX. If I were to buy the Aerial (I mean, Sound Anchor) stands, I'd have to buy them in SF (tax rate = 8.5%), so my outlay would be $542.50...factor in gas (nope, it's not free) for another $20 and suddenly the difference is $262.50. I don't know about you, but to me that's A LOT of money. I'd much rather invest that money in software (music) than stands that are no better than the Osiris. Even better, I could use that money to take my family on a nice outing to the Monterey Bay Aquarium or something.
Also, I did shop around for the "factory" stands and there are no discounts to be had.
Finally, I'm not sure how you came to your position about the Sound Anchor stands being "far-better-made" than the Osiris. Merlin Music Systems used the Osiris as their "factory" stands. By most accounts, the Merlin TSMs are arguably "far-superior" to the Aerials in virtually every way. Even if you don't agree that they're better, you must confess that they're a fine speaker - one deserving of a very high quality stand.
I just received the stands from UPS last night and, while I didn't have time to set them up, I did get them unpacked and they're incredible...very massive and beautifully built. Can't wait to fill them with shot (the Sound Anchors are prefilled with sand - isn't that for playgrounds?) and get them setup using some of the methods recommended on this post.