Okay, robd, here's everything you wanted to know about those SS16 stands. You can open the top and bottom of the supporting tube, but get a plastic bag and fill the bag with sand or shot, then form it into a kind of shaft, because it has to go inside the tube next to a rod that goes through the tube to connect the top and bottom of the stand. You can sort of wrap the sand-filled bag next to the rod and shove the whole thing into the tube.
Rubber feet are supplied along with spikes, so use the rubber feet on the nice hardwood floor, or, on thick carpet, the spikes, to steady the stand. The spikes or feet (or sand or lead shot) in no way influence a speaker's tonal quality.
Regards,
