According to Wendell Diller, they chose to go back to their traditional feet because the newer oval base just didn't look good on these. I asked him about weighted feet that went behind and would be invisible from the front, and he said that they're extremely heavy as it is and it would make them impractically heavy.
Otherwise, well, I think they're already being called the best bargain in audio and competitive with speakers that are far more expensive. Sure, they could gain a bit by milling the baffles out of aluminum or Corian or something equally elaborate, but they'd no longer be $30,000 speakers and from what I hear and read they're already competitive with anything out there at any price. Ditto for other things they could do like use neodynium magnets for greater efficiency, etc.
I haven't asked but I'm guessing that they'd say you should buy the stands from Grant, who sells direct and can offer stands for a lot less than Magnepan could with the retail markup. Or you can brace them yourself, I know some people who have done this with good results and I'll probably end up doing it myself with my Tympanis.
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