Skylan speakers stands-how much sand?

Could you have possibly altered the speaker positioning which would lead to a change in sound? Did you move the speakers at all when you added sand? Just a thought, try different placement, toe-in.

I replaced the speakers in exactly the same position. (my wife has never been keen about the blue masking tape on the floor.) I will continue listening to them, but there is definitely a difference. I agree that the low end is better, but I really think that they have lost a little presence in the midrange and top.

They still sound good, and I like the stands. They are infinitely better than the metal stands that I was using.

I don't know whether there is a solid connection between the stands and speakers, but I can feel the low end vibrations in the stands. I have hardwood floors and am not using the carpet spikes. The adjustable feet have flat metal bottoms.

Try taking some of the sand out. It sounds like you might have them a tad over-damped. Experiment with the 75% filled as previously mentioned. Also, you definitely need spikes or some type of footer to couple the stands to the floor. If using spikes, you'll need special pads for the spikes so you don't ruin the wood floor. You might also try some large Isonode footers or the Herbie's big dots under the speakers. There are a lot of threads on this subject, so you could do a search for more suggestions. Have you asked the Skylan dealer what they recommend? As I recall, wood floors, depending on if they are laid over a concrete base or are suspended, require different set-ups of the speaker stands. here's an older thread you might find of interest:

http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=tweaks&n=62576&highlight=sand+in+speaker+stands

And another:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1156645142&openflup&2&4#2

Sherod:

Thank you very much. Those threads are very helpful. The stands came with flat metal feet, about .5 inch in diameter. I think that I will get the Isonode footers and the big dots.

Thank you, everyone.

That did the trick!

I placed Herbie's small Fat Dots under the speakers (Spendor S3/5), Herbie's self-adhesive grungebusters on the Skylan speaker stands' .5" flat metal feet, and Herbie's self-adhesive grungebuster Extra-Thick Minidots under the audio rack's spikes' floor disks. (I used the self-adhesive grungebusters on the feet because I need to move the speakers when I am not listening to them to prevent my young children from knocking them over.)

The Fat Dots substantially reduced the vibration in the stands. I assume that the grungebusters on the speaker stands' feet also reduced vibration in the floor.

The low end is even tighter than when I loaded the stands with sand, and the mid-range and high end are back.

Excellent! Thank you, thank you, thank you!