In this article, Julian Rodgers shares his findings trying out a motorised sit-stand desk, in this case the Yo-Yo DESK PRO2. He’d always assumed that they wouldn’t be stable enough for someone working in audio who needs easy access to their gear, and what about monitoring?

We’ve all seen motorised sit-stand desks. However, 2020 and the boom in people working from home has made these desks much more popular but when researching a standing desk I held off buying one because I assumed that a desk of this type would be too wobbly to support the equipment even a modest audio setup like mine would entail.

When Russ reviewed the Yo-Yo 80-S standing desk, a portable addition to an existing conventional desk, he found a very practical way for someone to try a standing desk without having to change things around too much. I had already committed to using a standing desk by opting for a standing-only desk, a low tech but effective solution of adding some screw-on tall breakfast bar legs to my existing tabletop and adding some ingenious cross bracing (total cost £30). I went this route because having looked at the motorised, sit-stand options I concluded that they all looked a bit flimsy.

How Sturdy Is The Yo-Yo DESK PRO2

I’ve been working from home for a long time now but a move to a different room in my house prompted me to reconsider what I really need to get my work done. We all know that a studio is never finished but I decided for this move to simplify what was already a reasonably simple setup. Not to the absolute minimum but if I didn’t use it every day it was gone.

I own a small amount of outboard but it’s nothing particularly desirable and never gets used apart from my BAE 1073mpf mic preamp. Easy decision to consign everything else to storage. I usually have two sets of monitors set up but as I work 90% of the time on headphones that’s another easy one to dismantle and store. The motivation for this was that I was increasingly frustrated by the fact that, like many (most?) people working in domestic spaces I’m working from a desk which is up against a wall and accessing cabling is always a struggle. It doesn’t have to be like that. In my old studio, I was working in a long loft space and had a large space behind the desk. Re-patching was as easy as walking around the back of the desk. For a studio, which gets changed around as often as mine, with products for review and test come and go, I really miss that.

Lack of clutter and relatively easy access to the back of gear makes more difference to my day than having all my gear patched all the time. If access is easy then I can patch that pair of monitors or that piece of outboard in a couple of minutes, If access is difficult then unless I have to I’ll just not do it.

So I decided to try the Yo-yo Desk Pro 2 and to run it with a minimal set up in my fresh and clear new room to see if I could leave the clutter behind and concentrate on getting stuff done while being able to choose between sitting or standing.

Motorised desks have (obviously) 2 legs and this dual ‘i beam’ arrangement, with telescopic legs and inevitably some amount of play, will naturally make a prospective user wary of potential wobble. The specs usually quote a maximum load, often as high as 100Kg. You’ll find ‘fun’ video reviews on YouTube of people lying on their desks and lifting themselves into the air but the important questions, which remain unanswered are: how tolerant are these desks of uneven loading, for example, a pair of monitors on the back edge? And if I lean on one of these desks do they wobble (unacceptable) or flex (within reason perfectly tolerable)?

Wobble Vs Flex

The Yo-Yo DESK PRO2 is one such 2 motor desk. It is available with or without a desktop and I went for a frame only option. At a little under £500, it was cheaper than some of the options out there and after a fairly straightforward assembly, I found I had my existing tabletop attached and was happily motoring my desk up and down within a couple of hours.

Is The Yo-Yo DESK PRO2 Sturdy Enough For Audio?

Yes, I was pleasantly surprised by exactly how sturdy it was. I have no misgivings about putting anything short of a large set of monitors on it. Strength was never the real concern though, it was wobble. If the table moves when I lean on it then it would be game over for me. I’d go as far as to say that in normal use you wouldn’t realise it didn’t have 4 legs. It’s that good. If you push down hard there is flex, but it is a well-damped flex, not a distracting wobble, even at full extension. I’m 5”10 and this desk goes much higher than I need.

What About Monitors?

The first question I usually get asked is what do I do about my monitors? I’ve looked at the options and I’ve concluded that for me, having monitors in the right place is more important than what the monitors are. With my standing-only desk, I was using the tallest pair of reasonably priced monitor stands I could find. In my case, this was a pair of Ultimate Support 45” monitor stands. These are something of a no man’s land solution as they are a little high when seated and a little low when standing. This of course depends on the monitors being used. With my regular Neumann KH310s, they are a bit high when sitting. I’d rather have a pair of monitors which encourage me to sit up rather than to slouch, but with a taller pair like the ADAM S3Vs, they were perfect when standing.

It is possible to buy adjustable speakers stands, however having to manually adjust them isn’t really a viable solution and while motorised stands do exist, they are very expensive indeed.

The solution I have settled on is to recommission my pair of ancient Genelec 1029a monitors on a pair of Studiospares Trojan Pro DCMS-02 Desk Clamp Monitor Stands. These stands clamp on to the back edge of the desk and so move with the desk as it rises and falls. This was initially intended as a stop-gap solution but I have to say I’m really enjoying using them again. It reinforces something I’ve always believed to be true - that a pair of acceptable monitors in the right place is better than a superior pair of monitors in the wrong place.

Going forward, I’ve concluded that because my desktop is large and I have managed to de-clutter it so much, I actually have room to reinstate the KH310s on a pair of IsoAcoustios ISO200 stands which would allow me to mount the larger monitors on my tabletop and have them move with my desk.

Controlling The Yo-Yo DESK PRO2

The motors are concealed within the legs and attach via captive leads with push-on connectors to a control unit which is screwed to the underside of the tabletop. The control unit accepts a standard IEC power connection and control is via one of two supplied control panels, which connect via RJ45 connectors.

The simpler of the two controllers has just an up and a down button, the more sophisticated one has up and down buttons and can store 3 preset heights. Setup is easy. Clear warnings are supplied to make sure you calibrate the motors, which is done by pressing up and down together and the legs drop to their minimum height at half speed. This is presumably to make sure the two legs know they are at the same height. I checked and you can use both panels at the same time. I didn’t check to see what happens if you press up on one and down on the other…

My biggest criticism is directed at the instructions. The assembly instructions are typical of any flat-pack furniture. It’s OK. I figured it out and the parts are clearly labelled. However, I found the instructions for the panels more difficult to follow. It’s all there but I had to work harder than I should have to figure it out.

The issue is that the instructions don’t spell out what the more complex panel does that the other doesn’t. It explained the “how” but not the “why”. For example, it seems that you can set a minimum height below which the desk won’t descend. This would be ideal if you have floor-standing racks, which you want to make sure don’t get damaged by a descending desk. I’m vague about whether or not this is possible but the instructions suggest it is. With more clarity, I’d know.

Adding An Equipment Rack To The Yo-Yo DESK PRO2

The rack mounting gear I need access to every day is my Focusrite Red4Pre interface and my BAE 1073mpf preamp. The Focusrite runs quite hot so I left 1U free above it and using an old steel 4U rack sleeve I realised that if I screwed a piece of 24mm plywood to the underside of the table I would be able to clear the lip of the tabletop and drill and screw the rack into the plywood to get a hanging rack, which moves with the desk. I was only confident doing this because the table itself is solid wood, not MDF and so takes screws very securely.

The result is perfect. I don’t need to see the front panel of my interface much of the time but as I’m just running one set of monitors I dispensed with my monitor controller so having the Red4Pre volume control positioned exactly where my left-hand falls with no leaning or reaching is ideal. I can see whether I’m controlling the monitors or headphones because of the illuminated yellow buttons on the front panel without having to lean down. It works perfectly.

This did leave 1U at the top, which I’ve decided to fill with a 1U rack drawer from StudioSpares. Perfect for sweeping in all the tat I always find to be littering my desktop within minutes of clearing it. My computer desktop is the same so I shouldn’t be surprised.

Cables

Then there is the cables. I’m not one of those people who imagines it’s possible, or even desirable, to hide all your cables but as long as they are easily accessible I’d rather have them out of the way. The optional cable tray is a must and anyone who has done any live sound will soon be treating like the “rabbit hutch” on a mixer flight case, running excess cable up and down it to lose the extra length. For signal and data this pretty much covered everything.

Leads running under the desk such as the control panel and power cables from the control unit to the legs have been secured by screw on strap saddles (they are self adhesive but the glue isn’t up to the job - don’t bother, just screw it) and cable clips. A pack of screw in cable clips was provided but I used some old strap saddles I had from rack builds years ago which worked out much better.

Power Leads

Exactly how I’m powering everything is still to some extent being decided. I’ve already had horrified comments that you can see a couple of domestic 4 ways on the floor and I might change this but it’s far from urgent for me. I can’t see them from where I am and they are very accessible. The main thing is that they have to not impinge on my free access along the back of the desk. Beyond that I don’t really care.

I have screwed a single 13A 4 way to the underside of the desk and this is populated by wall wart power supplies for hard drives and my Apollo Twin. This is because the leads from adapters tends to be short and at full extension the adapters could be pulled into the air! And of course power adapters are far uglier than 13A plugs.

I have considered getting a rackmount mains distro and while this could work well I’ve always thought that in the equipment rack itself is the wrong place for a distro, things just get too cluttered with power connections looping back into the rack. If I do install one, I’d probably mount it under the other side of the desk in a 1 or 2 U sleeve and fit a remote master power switch under the right-hand edge of the table. Obviously, I’d resist the temptation to feel like a Bond villain with an under-table switch to open a trap door to dismiss my enemies…

Access Under The Desk

This is one of the biggest unexpected bonuses. Anyone who has done any amount of audio work knows how much grovelling around on the floor with cables is involved and as I approach fifty I realise that clambering around the back of racks is an increasingly grunt-filled affair. The beauty of a sit-stand desk with a “floating” rack is that if you want to get around the back of your rack you can just elevate the desk to full height and you can simply crouch and walk under it! It elevates to a maximum, height of 4’2” or 125cm. I do this every time I need to run a cable and I’ll really miss it next time I have to do without.

Should You Buy A Sit-Stand Desk?

If you’re doing the kind of work, which can be done on a regular table and you’re working in stereo then absolutely yes. These desks are the perfect compromise between the active health benefits of a standing desk and the reality that occasionally we all need to sit down. I’ve found I use the desk in sitting mode about a third of the time, which surprised me as I did have a standing-only desk. The standing-only option is fine but you might find that it doesn’t suit you and the health message is to “stand more” not “don’t ever sit”.

For a good illustration of how even if you think standing is the only option you’ll need you might be wrong, a few weeks after moving over to a standing-only desk I was bitten on my calf by a horsefly (evil things!). The bite got infected and my leg swelled quite badly. A course of antibiotics sorted it out within a week but for a couple of days I couldn’t comfortably stand up for long periods. This is a real problem if you have a standing-only desk, which at the time I did! Not so with a sit-stand. Although not featured here as I’m in a carpeted, upstairs room, if you are on a concrete floor you might consider a Yo-Yo mat, a foam anti-fatigue mat like the weird squishy floor they have at security at airports (remember airports?).

I love mine and I’m never going back. If you like the idea but have doubts, just do it.

The Yo-Yo DESK PRO2 costs £499 frame only.