STAX 2G SHELVING UNIT FROM BLOK

Looking for an audiophile-quality HiFi shelving unit? Paul Rigby checks out this new kid on the Blok

Shelving is one of the basic building blocks for any HiFi chain. It is as important as the individual components themselves. A HiFi has to land somewhere. Somehow. And when it does, it interacts with that place. And because HiFi is sensitive to outside vibration and other noise-producing elements like radio waves, mains supplies and more and because HiFi itself produces much of the same. All of this can degrade the final sound output. The place a HiFi sits can either improve that situation or make matters worse. 

A quality shelving unit will isolate your HiFi from the nasties…out there but, in addition, it will also drain away any vibration produced by the HiFi chain itself. 

The Stax 2G aims to be one of the good guys, helping your HiFi system to reach its potential. 

NO FUSS

For Blok, the Stax 2G has an intriguing design ethos. Firstly? It has a simplicity of line. Flat, solid shelving sides, square corners. No fuss. No platforms on the shelves. No secondary isolation technology. Consequently, the Blok doesn’t look busy or confused. Which means that, in aesthetic terms, you tend to look at the HiFi and not the shelving unit. In build terms, it means that the whole thing should go together pretty quickly. In performance terms, though. Does the design do enough to impress in sonic terms? Well, we will see a little later.

The actual shelves on the unit I tested features a strong, 12.8mm, high-grade plywood veneered on the top. I haven’t done a stress test but I know each shelf is recommended in terms of weight loading up to 40kg. I also know that the company has actually topped each shelf up to 100kg without issues. From what I hear, that goes for both the plywood and tempered glass shelving. 

Each of these plywood shelves feature a chamfered cut out at the rear so that you can push the shelving hard against the wall and still have enough room for cabling. As long as the cables are not too thick, that is. 

You can buy tempered glass shelves but I much preferred the wooden option in performance terms. I’m sure the Blok glass shelves perform well but my own bias tells me that glass is more resonant than the plywood option.

Again, though, that’s just my own opinion. Supported by my past experience with other products. So take that viewpoint with a pinch of salt, for this case.  

INERT MATERIAL

Each of the shelves are supported by blocks that are supported by an isolated pad made from a hard silicon rubber. The aim is to reduce vibration.

Each block is hollow and can be filled with an inert acoustic material to create a more dense structure. Each block features a resealable plug that can accept that inert material. Blok, right now, doesn’t supply its own inert material – that’s still to come. Saying that, you can find such material elsewhere. I know Atacama, the UK shelving specialist, sells its high density Atabites filler material by the tub at around £35 for a 7.5kg tub. I’m sure I’ve seen deals with that on eBay too, if you’re prepared to shop around. 

I tested the Stax 2G shelving system without the inert material and, even empty, found the structure of the shelving unit both strong and stiff. The assembled unit was sturdy and solid, even ‘from the box’. 

Assembling the system is very easy indeed using magnetic bolts and a supplied T-shaped spanner to fix the same plus screw-in, height adjustable feet. You even get an adjustment tool that can be positioned over the foot assembly and rotated to increase or decrease the height of the foot. The spikes on the included feet can be removed if you prefer. 

You can buy Stax 2G shelving units as three an four-shelf systems or you can buy each shelf separately to build your own unit of whatever height you prefer. Just use the website shop front to select things like the quantity and finish. 

To test the Blok I didn’t begin with the obvious turntable with a phono amplifier. That, in my opinion, would have been too easy. I wanted a source that would prove to be more of a challenge. A system that is rather more self contained and rigid in its basic build. Hence, I decided to focus on CD. I moved my Audiolab CD transport to one shelf and my Benchmark DAC to another, connected via coax. 

SOUND QUALITY

To begin testing, I grabbed The Beatles and the Naked version of the album Let it Be (2003) on CD and played the track, Dig a Pony. 

Was there any change in the sound? Oh yes. For the better? Absolutely. 

The imagery from the shelving unit was strictly organised. There was no ‘ifs’ and ‘maybes’ here. The vocals were pinned to the centre of the stereo image now. There was no wavering. The vocals were fixed. Guitars were placed on the left and right channels. Lennon’s vocal was placed front and centre. McCartney sat just behind, Ringo sat behind the singers. Billy Preston’s keyboards were situated just to the left of centre.  

More than that, the focus for all vocals and instruments was enhanced. This increased detail retrieval. Running alongside was a lowering of noise which increased the sense of space around each vocal and instrument. This created an unhurried performance. That extra space in and around the soundstage produced a relaxed presentation. The effect was to put a smile on the group, as if they were enjoying the recording process. That is, the sound was fighting the high-frequency noise. 

The final upshot of this sonic house-keeping was a sense of neutrality from the music. A real balance from the song.

I wanted some larger and deeper bass so turned to a vinyl pressing of Seal’s self-titled album from 1991 (ZTT) and played Killer. To do that I placed a Rega RP3 along with a Trichord Dino phono amplifier on the Stax 2G.

And well, this track was rather impressive, I have to say. Tight, tight bass lines that hit and ran like the best bank robbery. Here, bass attack was faster than Bruce Lee. It flashed a strike and was gone before you had come to. But it never smeared or dragged across the soundstage.

This meant that the additional floating details that danced around the bass could easily be heard. In fact there was so much space for these flying elements, the soundstage sounded wonderfully busy and complex. 

Later, the acoustic guitar introduction from the track Whirlpool was just magnificent, a host of metal strings flying in close formation yet sounding like a group of individual strings instead of a blurred lump. 

CONCLUSION

In many ways, I was shocked at the sonic improvements compared to my highly recommended and highly regarded (by myself at least) Blue Horizon shelving set up.

A set up that I still highly recommend and still believe is excellent.

But really? The Blok offers significant improvements. The low noise output, the added focus, the increase in midrange and treble detail, the bass punch, the extra space around the soundstage.

The sound improvements just kept on coming and showed me, yet again, how important a top quality shelving system is in the overall performance of any HiFi system, low or high cost.

That is, if you want to get the best from your HiFi chain, a high calibre shelving set up is critical. And believe me, the Blok is a prime example of that. 

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BLOK STAX 2G SHELVING UNIT

Price: Typical 3-shelf system costs £775 but you can spend less or more depending on your requirements

Website: www.blokhifi.com/en/stax-2g-builder/

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GOOD: looks good, easy to assemble, solid structure, easy to move, overall sound quality 

BAD: nothing 

RATING: 9

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