I put some small rubber pads on the bottom since I was concerned that the spikes, although rather dull tip plastic, would damage my wood floor.

You don't have to use the foot pins if you have hard wood floors.

CRASHING TO THE HARD FLOOR

: I did not install any of the provided carpet spikes on stand bases, as they are on a hard floor

If one is putting the stand on a hard floor, the speaker wire will have to be placed on top of the base and into the covered pole.