Other Models:

I get a lot of e-mail about Rogers speakers, so this page is an attempt to summarise everything I know about models that haven't been mentioned elsewhere. It's the culmination of lots of e-mail conversations, and researching mailing lists like the LS3/5a Yahoo group - so please be aware that some of the information may not be complete or accurate. And many thanks to the numerous people who have helped me compile this information.

General history of BBC speakers:

BBC ENG INF (Winter 1990/1, No 43) Loudspeakers:

This article discusses BBC speakers, past and present. Click the thumbnails to enlarge them, or preferably read the OCR'd version.

Also, have a look at the Harbeth web site for a detailed look at BBC monitors over the years.

Please note that this link is now dead, but I'll leave this here in the hope that one day Harbeth might decede to restore the information. Meanwhile, try the Internet Archive's version of the page.

BBC LS3/6, Export Monitors and the Studio 1:

These models are loosely related to the Spendor BC1. The exact relationships are quite hard to decipher, but this e-mail from Allen Edelstein helps to clarify things. It was written during a discussion on the Spendor mailing list regarding Studio 1's.

The Export Monitors were a mod of the LS3/6 by Rogers on their own to make the speaker a better home product. This was especially to increase the power handling which was low on the LS3/6 partially due to a light voice coil structure with a paper former. I recall (over 25 years ago) that the LS3/6 had the most beautiful, slightly lush midrange of any speaker I had ever heard and I'm not sure if this still would not be true.

The BC1 was a pre-derivative of the LS3/6, but not a BBC model. Spencer Hughes had worked on the 3 way LS5/5. The BBC thought they could use the 8 inch mid of the LS5/5 to make a 2 way smaller monitor and they started to work on it. They stopped mid-stream and Spencer used the research to develop the BC1 on his own. It was originally a 2 way with just an HF1300. The STC super tweeter was added later. Meanwhile the BBC started the LS3/6 work again and finished it. Rogers took on the manufacture and they proposed adding the HF2000 super tweeter which the BBC approved.

The Export monitor was released in the early 1970's. Many thanks to Chris Self for sending me this flyer...

It's interesting to read that each Export Monitor is compared to a BBC LS3/6, confirming the link between these models.

Chris also sent me these internal pictures of his early Export Monitors, which uses the BBC-spec crossover. These use a bass driver made by "Dalesford", which I presume are replacements. There are some extra components mounted off the crossover PCB (an inductor and 4 capacitors wired in parallel), and I wonder if these were necessary with the change in bass unit? They aren't used in the LS3/6 below.

I was sent these pictures of a later export monitor with a seemingly unwell HF1300! Again, I haven't been able to track down the original e-mail, so please contact me if you recognise these images.

As you can see, the crossover looks different to the picture in the flyer above - apparently this revision happened in spring 1977. The unusual square opening for the bass reflex port seems to be a quick way to identify the Export Monitor. The later Studio One models had a conventional round port with a short length of black plastic pipe behind, which was mounted below the woofer on the centreline of the baffle.

This baffle appears to be made from birch ply, and although I'm not sure what the rest of the enclosure is made from, it's probably fair to assume that it's also birch ply. And this was almost certainly what the LS3/6 used, in accordance with standard "BBC thin-wall" practice. The internal walls would have been lined with bitumen damping and foam pads.

As above, the bass unit uses a pressed steel basket rather than the diecast aluminium chassis that Rogers used for all their larger drive units until the late 1980's. It looks similar to the Dalesford, apart from the sticker.

I confess to initally being confused by the tweeter, as it looks somewhat like a KEF T27 from the front, but nothing like the T27's I've seen from the behind. Allen suggests above that it's actually a Celestion HF2000, and comparing the magnet assembly to the HF1300 midrange, I'm inclined to believe this. Also, KEF T27's didn't come with the metal grill fitted - this was a BBC modification devised during the development of the LS3/5A to protect the dome and increase the HF output slightly - I recall reading somewhere that this metal grill may have come from the Celestion HF2000. Thanks to Alan Shaw (of Harbeth) for confirming these facts.

These curious speakers are owned Keith Garratt. His homepage has lots of interesting bits of vintage and valve hi-fi, plus some DIY audio too.

Initially they were something of a mystery because judging by the flyer above they look like an Export Monitor, but the badge says "Rogers BBC Studio Monitor Speaker". The label also proclaims that they are "produced under license from the British Broadcasting Corporation", which suggests that they might actually be LS3/6's. Export Monitors are not a BBC design, and were never made under license.

Note the unusual grill cloth colour - I don't know if this is original or not. Unlike the Export Monitor, this grill is apparently fixed - this is in common with early Spendor BC-1 models where the grill was secured by screws driven into the rear of the grill via the baffle - therefore the rear panel needs to be removed first. I can't see any screwheads on the rear of the baffle, so they're presumably hidden by the acoustic foam. Or, perhaps Keith needed to pull harder ;-)

Here's a picture of the rear badge. Comparing it to the specifications given in the Export Monitor flyer, the frequency response seems to match, but this model has a lower power rating, suggesting that this is indeed an LS3/6. So perhaps the real mystery is why didn't Rogers badge it as such?

Here are two views of the woofers, which unfortunately are faulty. I believe they are going to be serviced at some point in the future by Dave Smith at DK Loudspeakers, who I'm told is able to repair them - he can be contacted on 01708 447344 (no e-mail or web site).

And this is a close-up of the crossover - as you can see, it's a serious piece of engineering! Those large inductors must have been incredibly expensive, and heavy. Judging by the number of connections, the largest one looks as if it's an auto-transformer for matching the level between the drive units. The smaller units look like conventional inductors. The triangular-shaped PCB is for the super-tweeter, and almost appears to be an afterthought. This certainly fits in with Allen's info above.

Studio 1's:

Moving on to the later Studio 1's, these are a development of the Export Monitor. As you can tell from the brochure picture, the Studio 1 retains the the large 3 way format of the earlier model. The bass driver is made by Rogers, and continues to use a bextrene cone. The midrange-tweeter remains a Celestion HF1300, but the super-tweeter is a KEF T27. Note how the bass driver is rear-mounted, with the opening rounded over to reduce diffraction effects. The two tweeters are flush-mounted for the same reason. The cabinet is made from critically damped 9mm MDF, which is cheaper than the birch ply used for earlier models.

In contrast to the earlier models, these have a much higher power rating of 200-300W. While I don't disbelieve this, it seems incredible when comparing the bass driver to that found in my ATC's. Click here for a review of the Studio 1.

Studio 1a's:

The Studio 1a's are a more recent development, and at a glance appear to have more in common with the LS7 than the earlier Studio 1's. They are a two-way design, using a clear polypropylene cone woofer and a dome tweeter. Click here to read the Studio 1a brochure, kindly submitted by Cliff Law.

Thanks are due again to Andrey Tiurpenko for sending me these pictures:

As you can see, they support "buy-wiring", as the market demanded at the time. As you can see, the connectors are mounted directly onto the rear panel, rather than the thin plastic tray seen on the LS7 and others. The dimensions are the same as the Studio 1's.

From the picture at least, the woofer looks identical to the unit used in the LS7t - does anyone know different? The tweeter is a 34mm metal dome unit made by Celestion.

I haven't had the chance to hear them myself, but Andrey says that compared to the LS7t's, the "Studio [1a] has better sound in all respects", which I can easily believe as they cost nearly double when new.

The Studio 7:

This was a redesign of the Studio 1a by Andy Whittle in 1993. The enclosure and bass/mid driver were retained from the Studio 1a, but the metal-dome tweeter was replaced by a 25mm soft-dome unit from Scanspeak. The bass alignment was altered to produce a drier, less boomy sound in a typical domestic environment. According to a review in the June 1993 issue of Hi-Fi News, the Studio 7 was much smoother and better balanced compared to the already high standard set by the 1a. Price then was £880 per pair.

Newer non-BBC models:

I'm thinking specifically of the LS2 and LS4 models, amongst others. Basically, all I know of these is what you can find in the brochures on this page. I do get a lot of e-mails regarding these, but no, I'm afraid I can't tell you any more, and no, I've no idea what they might be worth!

I have found this page at allansonline.com, which includes lots of pictures of an older pair of LS2's. Also, do have a look at the rest of the site, which contains detailed information about older KEF speakers.

Please feel free to submit any info that you think might be useful here - I'll gladly post it here. Likewise, anything that I do discover will appear here.

New Models:

Rogers have been owned by the Wo Kee Hong Group since around 1993. As you can see from their corporate site, they own lots of well-known brands like Alpine, LG and Mitsubishi. Since the wind up of the Rogers operation in this country back in the late 1990's, they continue to use the name and it's possible to find brand new products bearing a Rogers badge. At this stage, I'm unable to determine anything about them - I don't believe that they are distributed in the UK.

It's interesting to look around the Rogers website - you'll see a wide range of consumer electronics wearing the Rogers name, including AV receivers, DVD players and plasma screens! They're making full use of the "British High-Fidelity" strap-line on the Rogers logo, but it looks like none of the products are designed, developed or built in Britain. I must admit that I find all of this slightly uncomfortable, but I might be wrong...

Curiously, the "Reviews" section doesn't actually contain any reviews, but does have brief details of all the older models that Rogers made before they went bust.

Again, if you can help me with this, please get in contact.

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