speaker plinths

Other than it may look more aesthetically pleasing, I heard the Mapleshade planks under my floorstanders as a ZERO improvement. 

Perhaps if one's room had a questionable floor, it may help provide a solid foundation. When my room was redone with a new wood floor,  I ditched the planks. Just for test purposes, I compared the two setups, and heard no audible improvement with them. YMMV.

Speaker location, and room acoustic treatment is what your speakers  need to sing. The 1028's need to be out in the room at least 4 feet from the front and 3 from the side.

The Gaia's footers are supposedly a legit tweak.

Thanks that will save me $

These tweaks are very system dependent.
Also, using spikes under the maple platform will affect their performance
I have also heard of using two pieces of marble glued together as being another way to achieve a solid and neutral base-with the glue providing a way to dissipate resonances. 
I just got a pair of Townshend speaker platforms for my Treo's. I'll post my thoughts when I get them set up.
Bob

Not at all.

Yes, just make sure the footprint of the plinth is sufficiently large compared to the speaker footprint to avoid any unfortunate accidents such as the speaker accidentally tipping over and crashing through the window. Been there, done that.

I use a 24” square piece of slate 3/4” thick on top of a piece of closed cell white foam that showed up as packing material. I set my 4430 on top of that on top of my subs so i could isolate them with weight and suspension. Worked well. 

Thanks All for your help