These are pressed paper bogus wood and never should be used in the manner of construction that they are used for

I did screw up a little on the first stand I assembled, succeeding in splintering the wood a little in a couple of areas that are not very visible.

The wood splits if you no not screw into the holes properly, but there isn't anything that lines them up or holds them in place.

For those using wood floors like me, the wires also need to exit out of the vertical legs instead of the bottom, because otherwise it will teeter.

No wood splits or screw breaks here

Although it's not made from solid wood, the stands are very sturdy and can hold surround speakers that are quite large

The combination of soft plastic-wood material and sharp-tipped, self-tapping screws makes it easy to "screw up" during assembly.

They are not even a dense wood composite, but rather that lightly compressed cardboard stuff.

As other reviewers experienced, the wood split.

The holes don't line up, the wood splits

After I put the first pillar on, the wood split just like mentioned in other reviews.

Wood didn't split.

But the wood.... just feels gross to handle

The are a nice black wood, have a sturdy (and wide) base, and you can't beat the price

If the legs are tilted or angled away from vertical the screws will split the wood

It also lost a star because of how easy the wood splits.

After I put the first pillar on, the wood split just like mentioned in other reviews.

Luckily I had longer wood screws that worked

I too split the wood, but it was my fault as the screw wasn't going into the hole, it went into the wood

It has nothing to do with making the product cheaper, but in fact; plain wood isn't as dense as MDF aka Particle Board and therefore the speaker cabinets, etc

Since this wood is so soft, it is very easy to just screw through another part of the support, not through the predrilled hole, and the result is guaranteed to be a split in the wood.

Just be careful when tightening the wood screws to not over-tighten them or the force may split the wood.

The screws went in with almost no effort, so it's gotta be the cheap synthetic wood, and the fact that the holes are close to the edge of the pillars

but if you can afford, get solid wood or metal stands.

No matter how slowly I screwed in the screws, the wood would slightly split

The wood will easily split if you are not very careful with the assembly

I didn't run into any of the splitting wood issues that some reviewers have noted.

I assembled them with the included screws and had no problems with the wood splitting or cracking

Using this method, I avoided splitting the wood with the remaining 31 screws assembling my total of 4 stands.

I did not have any problems with the wood splitting or any other problems

This composite wood product is very easy to screw and if you screw too fast and don't have enough control (which will happen with a power screwdriver) I can promise you that you will split the wood.

However, they are made out of worthless MDF, NOT real wood, which split on both stands as I was putting them together

Easy to assemble, made very precise of durable wood material, coated for protection and good design.

I bought a pair of these from another retailer about two years ago and split the wood in a couple spots while setting them up

Some people mention that they are not solid wood and there is a reason for that, which is the same reason speaker cabinets are not made of solid wood

Read the comments on these about the screws splitting the wood.

On one of them, the wood split a little bit when I screwed it together, but it is not too noticable.

Had no trouble with the splitting wood others have seen.

But the wood is CHEAP.

The fake wood split as I put in a screw following the directions.

The wood split on me while tightening the screws, and I certainly did not over-tighten them

The wood was cracking and splitting as I tried to assemble these.

The wood did split just a bit, even though I hardly tightened them at all

The price cannot be beat!You of course are paying a bargain basement price, so here is what you are NOT getting:* Solid wood

My speakers are about 14" H x 7" W x 9" D, and they work great.