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

@hilde45
@decooney Good advice. Not sure how to look that up, but surely it's a good way to proceed.

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Local CL Craigslist > Services > type in Metal Fabrication

Several will pop up, checking your area.  Draw up a simple design and dimensions on a document, .pdf, -or- hand drawn take a photo of it. Call a few, ask or an email address, email it to them, ask for bid on a pair. Might take 10 or so calls/emails, but much cheaper than fancy expensive stands made with light weight tin pot metal. Any local fabricator worth a salt can do this as a side job, easy peasy.  Helps locals to make income :) 

@hilde45
With the above in mind, any opinions on modestly priced stands? Perhaps 20" - 22" high?

(Again, I'm not in the market for expensive stands, right now.)

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Yes. Support your local metal shop.  Call and shop a few local metal shops/fabricators. Easy to build, two plates for top and bottom, metal posts, weld, add screw-in spike nut-serts or tap threads, paint, done. Super easy for average fabricators.

With people out of work in a pandemic, any reasonable shop still open can handle this. Thicker metal, weighty, custom height, can be lower price than buying cheap thin metal junk online and USA Made! :) 

@hilde45
In your state, hmmm.  Custom speakers deserve nice custom stands. 

Deer Creek Audio Custom Steel Stands Hand Crafted by Master Artisans - Colorado USA  h t t p s : // deercreekaudio .com/ p / custom-stands

squish spaces back together, link should work and not get filtered.  

For positioning of 2-way metal dome type tweeter applications, I sometimes prefer the tweeter just slightly above the ear and next driver down midrange/woofer just below it. Yes, centered between the two, yet the difference can be distinguishable on some speakers, particularly with midrange frequency and sometimes a tad more fullness achieved.

May not apply in @hilde45 ’s lower ceiling situation , but it’s easy to try.

In some applications, simply found getting some speakers up off the floor a bit more than traditional preferences can render some mediocre sounding speakers into something more, just by lifting them "up" a tad, fwiw and ymmv.