Of course they make a difference, cables make a difference, weather, humidity, everything matters. You can spend enormous amounts of money building the perfect listening room with all the perfect gear and accessories then you walk in the room and screw up the sound just by being there. Many companies and people make quite a bit of money selling dreams, they only have to convince would be buyers that their products are so much better than any others, fancy words, pretty pictures and unsubstantiated claims is all it takes to convince someone who wants to waste money. All kinds of ocean front property has been sold in Arizona as well as several bridges, I'm off to buy the Brooklyn to go along with my Golden Gate.
Do different speaker stands can really make a big sound improvement?
I am looking for stands for my new Harbeth P3ESR XD speakers and wonder how much improvement one can actually hear between close to a $1000 stands and a $100 one filled with sand?