If a speaker stand is mass-loading, how much does it matter what they're made of?

Thanks @djones. I really do wish for a report. They’re on my short list. The Timbernation folks do similar stands, all wood, for a similar price. I know that "everything resonates" (and of course "everything matters", cough cough), but I like the idea of solid wood. But if MDF is acoustically better, and fillable, then that is probably the ticket.

FWIW, I asked Mr. Nolan why he thought MDF was better than steel and he said this to me:

"The Steel Stands will always ring any some place as the Tops and Bases can not be Dampened easily.Think of it this way, placing a Wooden Cabinet on a Steel Tuning Fork is not the best idea."

This sentence could be clearer and the idea that well made steel stands are like "tuning forks" seems overdrawn as analogy. His view runs counter to what some have said here about heavy steel stands, but then again, he sells MDF not steel, so...

Better is in the ear of the beholder. I've used steel and MDF I never noticed any ringing but I was using them for small surround speakers. I just liked the look of the Skylan and he can make the top to fit the speaker. 

I am with yogiboy. Given your cost considerations and ceiling height I would try the 20" Pangea stands.  

@mesch The only issue is that the Pangea stands won't fit my speaker base very well. The 20" Pangea has a 6" x 9" steel top plate and my speaker has a 10" x 14" base. That's a lot hanging off there. The Skylan base could be custom sized.

Yea, I understand that concern. One would probably want to add mass to the base  plate and use bluetack to bond speaker to top plate. I am going to look into the Skylan stands as I am not familiar.