I plan on making my own speakers stands for the RTi6's I am going to purchase soon. My question is should I make them out of solid steel or tubing filled with sand, shot, etc? I am a machinist and have quit a bit of experience with welding also. I was just about to start making them out of solid steel and thought I would ask?
I think I would look at the commercial products and follow what has proven successful in terms of sound quality. As with most things audio, there are different opinions on what will make the best stand. Often the different results will be due to what a particular piece of equipment prefers, i.e., solid and rigid vs. light and lossey. If the manufacturer of your speakers recommend a particular stand for their products, I would follow what they suggest. My guess would be Polk would go for the rigid, well damped concept of filled stands with spikes and BluTak on the support platform.