SOLIDSTEEL S4-4 HIFI RACK REVIEW

Linette Smith reviews what the main rig at HiFi Pig Towers has been living on for the last seven months, the Solidsteel S4-4 HiFi Rack.

Reviewing HiFi and Audio ‘furniture’ is always going to be a bit different from reviewing say an amplifier, DAC, or pair of speakers, especially when the furniture is the rack that you are putting your main system on, rather than speaker stands that you can lift in and out easily. This review focuses less on things like sound and more on aspects like durability and functionality. Obviously, these are not something that can be assessed quickly so this review has been written after we have lived with the rack, taking kit in and out, for around seven months.

We bought the Solidsteel S4-4 rack as we were looking to rearrange the main listening room system, which was on a much lower and longer Quadraspire rack. We already had some of their SS-6 tripod loudspeaker stands which had impressed us and also a Hyperspike amp stand for our beast of Krell amplifier. The need was less about upgrading the sound and more about the ease of getting kit in and out which, as you can imagine, happens very regularly here.

The Solidsteel S4-4 HiFi Rack

A LITTLE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF SOLIDSTEEL

Solidsteel is an Italian HiFi and Audio furniture brand who have been making its racks and stands since 1990, they claim to be the longest-running Italian HiFi furniture company in existence. The family-run company was originally founded by Moreno Conti and is run today by Gaetano Conti.

The brand’s history goes even further back to when Moreno was young, in the 70s and 80s, when he worked in the Conti family business which was the official supplier of motorcycle silencers for Ducati, in Bologna. Moreno Conti learned the techniques of metal work including open-flame welding. He had a great love of music and of audio equipment and combining his passions led him to develop the first ‘Solidsteel’ prototypes of audio furniture between 1988 and 89. At that time there was no other brand in Italy making specialist furniture for HiFi and Audio gear. As the products were, and still are, made from steel and the business was built on a solid grounding of craftsmanship the name Solidsteel became the name of the business.

Tragically, Moreno died of a heart attack in 2013, leaving behind as yet unrealised new projects that he had been developing. His two sons Gaetano and Manfredi Conti took over the running of the business and carried on the work that their father had started.

The Solidsteel S4-4 HiFi Rack is also available in white

BUILD AND FEATURES

It is very much a two-person job to put the rack together and it is pretty heavy but not so heavy as to make it difficult to assemble. With two people it is a straightforward job, and it took just a short time to get it put together and in position. The instructions were simple and easy to follow, and the rack comes with everything you need to have it with either feet or added spikes, depending on what type of floor you have. The leg tubes are painted anodized aluminium filled with damping material, the hardware is all stainless steel and the terminals are made from iron AVP treated with zinc to eliminate the risk of rust. The shelves are made from MDF with a polymer laminate. You can choose between black or white, black was right for us, but I can see white looking really cool too.

The rack that we went for, the S4-4 has shelves wide enough for two items of HiFi equipment side by side, with plenty of space around them. It is four shelves high and gives us plenty of room for things like two different turntables, phono stages, streamers etc. Our amp or amps currently sit on a different stand on the floor due to the way our room and system are configured, but if you wanted your amp on the rack the bottom shelf has more clearance space and would accommodate even a big valve amp comfortably. The shelves will hold up to 140kg each which should be enough for all but the most enormous of gear. You could easily put a big-screen TV on the top shelf should you be using it in an AV system.

SOUND QUALITY

We have all heard the difference between putting components on a normal piece of furniture, perhaps from a certain Swedish flat-pack emporium, and a ‘proper HiFi rack’. We were going from one very high-quality rack (the Quadraspire) to another so were not expecting to hear a great difference in sound. There was however a distinct ‘tightening up’ of the sound once we got things running again on the Solidsteel rack. It just wasn’t feasible to keep taking a full, complex, many-box system on and off two different racks to compare (and if we did, I am sure you, dear readers, would think we had gone quite mad), but suffice to say things sounded better on the Solidsteel rack. This could be down to the different configurations of the components on the rack. They were now in a higher, narrower configuration rather than a long, low one, but whatever the cause our system works very well on the Solidsteel rack and we are pleased with the resulting sound.

QUIBBLES

The only quibble that I have with the rack is the brand badge. I think it would be a lovely design opportunity to use a badge made from steel and engraved with the Solidsteel name, it would look really classy. (Note: at Munich we saw the new products from Solidsteel along with just the stylish name badge that the racks deserve!)

CONCLUSION

There are a lot of racks out there and really a lot of the choice, once you have got past what your requirements are and does the company make the rack that fits your gear at the price that you want to pay, will be down to looks. Yes, you can go for something far more flamboyant but if you want a simple, stylish HiFi rack that does the job it is designed for, wears well and shows off your gear to its best advantage, you could do worse than try out the Solidsteel S range of racks.

As you can see, despite heavy use over the last seven months, the rack has not scratched

AT A GLANCE

Build and Features: The rack is easy to put together and is smart in its simplicity. Good quality finish.

Value For Money: The rack is not cheap, but neither is it as expensive as some racks can be. It does its job, is wearing well and looks good.

We Loved:

The ease of putting it together and the shelf spacing making kit easy to get in and out.

The strong history of the company and ‘Made in Italy’ pedigree.

The durability of the product.

We Didn’t Love So Much:

The brand name badge ‘sticker’ looks a little cheap. (However, the new ones that we have seen at Munich look great).

Price: 1,149.99 € European retail prices, for local pricing contact your distributor/dealer.

Elevator Pitch Review: A simple looking, solidly built rack that does the job it is designed to do. After heavy use for several months with weighty kit being put in and out of the system it hasn’t scratched. The shelf spacing is perfect giving ample access for changing cables, all in all it’s a great piece of HiFi furniture.

SUPPLIED BY SOLIDSTEEL

Linette Smith

SOLIDSTEEL S4-4 SPECIFICATIONS

Tubes: painted aluminium (anodized) filled with damping material.

Hardware: stainless steel.

Terminals: Iron AVP treated with zinc to eliminate the risk of rust.

Shelves: MDF wood, polymer laminate.

Sustainability for each shelf: 140 kg tested.

Weight: 60 Kg | 132.27 lbs

Outer Dimensions mm | inch: W 1114 (43,85)  H 905 (35,6)  D 430 (16,9)

Inner Shelves Dimensions mm | inch: W 500 (19,7) H 225/225/245 (8,9/8,9/9,6) D 430 (16,9)

Colour: Black or White