Steve Blinderman made me some realy fantastic platforms for my Totem Forests that were quite inexepnsive (less than the Mapleshade solution, and custom made to the dimensions of the speakers and the finish I required). They had been sitting on carpet (with the built in "claws" isolation footers). The platforms substantially improved sound quality and the speakers actually looked better on the platforms. Also, I recommend mass loading the speakers. The mass loaded speakers on top of the stands were quite stable.