I own cheap QA 3030i speakers, screwed into matching stands and they do the job, as designed. I think £600 for £30 of steel welded together is outrageous, even if you are using £4500 speakers. I think many companies are adding the Harbeth 'premium' to their stands and accessories, because they think people are willing to pay silly amounts for what is essentially, a few quid of steel. Harbeth speakers don't need exotic, or expensive stands. You could use 2 small tables, made of solid wood and they would do the same as these stands. Harbeth's Andy Shaw says you can use any stable and level surface, with these speakers, just make sure the tweeters are at the correct height. It's probably why they don't offer their own stands. Speakers don't sound any different, because they are sat on bits of cheap metal, so long as they don't rock, or wobble around. People stick blu tac on the stands, to avoid them falling off, but then some people say you should isolate the speakers from the stands, using spikes. So long as no vibrations get to the speakers and your pets or kids can't knock them off, then just find the cheapest and most visually pleasing, solid foundation for your pricey speakers. I'm sure you could get a company to make some metal stands, to the exact size and paint them for you. This wouldn't cost £600 or anything near it. A stand that works for a much cheaper speaker, will do the same with a very expensive speaker. Just because a speaker costs several thousands of pounds, doesn't mean the stand needs to cost 10 times more. The cost of a decent stand, shouldn't necessarily be a percentage of the speaker's cost.