Rogers BBC Studio Monitor Find - Help

[Wolverine]

Hi,

As promised here are the details of the recent repair to my Rogers Studio monitors.

Before and after pics as well as the Frequency graph attached. Here's what was done...

Remove xover pcb's and replaced all capacitors with Solen SCR MKP Metalized Poly Capacitors.
Replced all wire wound resistors with non inductive ceramic resistors.
Rewired XP from terminal tray to xover input and pcb to bass driver.
Resoldered all pin standoff and relevent pcb joints.
Removed "floating dust caps" clean area of annulus on bextrene cone, clean airgaps of alumium oxide crystals , and reapply cleaned dust caps and 3 coatings of Waldom AA98 Dibutyl Pthylate rubberised null coating.

As I said, the improvement is pretty noticeable to me. I'm hearing more details then before. I'm told the freq response curve (attached) is not crash hot. I also had my Acoustic Research AR-6 bookshelf speakers tested (graph also attached), their response was pretty bloody good and is more flat. However I'd say I prefer the Rogers for general listening. I might prefer the AR-6's for say clean acoustic stuff, just a tad more detailed and cleaner. The Rogers perform particularly nicely on big gentle tracks with lots of elements going on such as Air's "Biological" and maybe not as great on heavy rock tracks they don't seem to hold it together as well, they start to trip over themselves a bit. Anyway I am really enjoying them and looking forward to hooking them up to a Sansui Au 10000 tomorrow night.

Cheers.

Great job on the recap! and other work! I may have to consider sending these out to have the x-over overhauled.

Thanks also for graphing these out. I have not listened to too much Rock with these but from what I have leads me to agree with your general assessment. For Acoustic, Jazz or Classical these speakers are hard to beat. I listened to some Charlie Parker this weekend and they were outstanding!

 

[Goldjazz]

Hi Mech, yes that's a good point I may try rear mounting or improving the seal from the front mount.

Wolverine - thanks, yes I do think it's definitely worth it.

Also I thought you both may be interested in the following, I emailed a Rogers specialist in London re obtaining a pair of original Bass drivers. I have since found out that these original drivers were actually produced by the BBC's R&D department and are as rare as rocking horse shizer Anyway he's the guys reply

"Regrettably you would require a time travel machine to obtain spare bass drivers! Production stopped suddenly in the 1970s when it was found that the production methods used were carcinogenic. The company produced a substitute drive unit that was not very good, but now the only source would be one of a very tiny number of working originals.

Replacement by another drive unit should be possible but to obtain anything like the original sound would require considerable research costing thousands of pounds"

 

[SimplySound]

Hi,

As promised here are the details of the recent repair to my Rogers Studio monitors...

Nicely done GoldJazz!!! I like your workmanship! :thmbsp: And man, that is one complex crossover there. Look at the quality of those inductors and what is the transformer for? :scratch2:

Hi Mech, yes that's a good point I may try rear mounting or improving the seal from the front mount.

Also I thought you both may be interested in the following, I emailed a Rogers specialist in London re obtaining a pair of original Bass drivers. I have since found out that these original drivers were actually produced by the BBC's R&D department and are as rare as rocking horse shizer

And I do agree with Bart that the rear mounting is probably the way to go... I assume there may be some baffle interaction considerations that were evaluated with this. And yeah, this whole cabinet looks incredibly well "engineered" so I would assume the original Bass Drivers were some real special beasts... but the B200 is NOT a shabby driver and I would assume is a pretty good replacement for the original!

 

[Bstable]

Hey bro. Depending on if you want decide to do a recap...consider me as your labor guy. Do your homework, get the right parts, and I can install them.

Yes, we can rebuild him...we have the technology.

 

[Wolverine]

Hi Mech, yes that's a good point I may try rear mounting or improving the seal from the front mount.

Wolverine - thanks, yes I do think it's definitely worth it.

Also I thought you both may be interested in the following, I emailed a Rogers specialist in London re obtaining a pair of original Bass drivers. I have since found out that these original drivers were actually produced by the BBC's R&D department and are as rare as rocking horse shizer Anyway he's the guys reply

"Regrettably you would require a time travel machine to obtain spare bass drivers! Production stopped suddenly in the 1970s when it was found that the production methods used were carcinogenic. The company produced a substitute drive unit that was not very good, but now the only source would be one of a very tiny number of working originals.

Replacement by another drive unit should be possible but to obtain anything like the original sound would require considerable research costing thousands of pounds"

Thanks for the info on the woofers. I know now not to beat the bushes looking for them. Plus I might get cancer just by installing them......

As my brother as graciously volunteered his excellent soldering skills for the recap is there any chance you have a record of the value of the caps replaced?

Hey bro. Depending on if you want decide to do a recap...consider me as your labor guy. Do your homework, get the right parts, and I can install them.

Yes, we can rebuild him...we have the technology.

I will probably take you up on this. I will certainly compensate you in some mutually agreeable manner. I appreciate your willingness to once again fix up some gear for me. :thmbsp::thmbsp:

 

[Goldjazz]

Hey guys I can't take credit for the repair on these. I had a very experienced guy here in Australia do this for me. His co. is called Speakerworks and I recommend him highly. Wolverine I'm happy to take some closer pics inside if you want details for sourcing these caps etc. just let me know.
Also further emailing with the Rogers expert in London: he recommends Spendor BC1 bass drivers as a potential good replacement too. Some of you may know the history of Spencer Hughes developing the Ls 3/6 at the BBC before going on to start Spendor. His BC1 is an extremely close relative of this Rogers BBC LS 3/6. I finished by saying well if you do come across any of the original drivers please let me know. He laughed stating that he hadn't seen a single pair of these monitors come through his shop since the 70's and if he did he would keep them because they are his all time favorite - these things are bloody rare.

 

[Wolverine]

Hey guys I can't take credit for the repair on these. I had a very experienced guy here in Australia do this for me. His co. is called Speakerworks and I recommend him highly. Wolverine I'm happy to take some closer pics inside if you want details for sourcing these caps etc. just let me know.
Also further emailing with the Rogers expert in London: he recommends Spendor BC1 bass drivers as a potential good replacement too. Some of you may know the history of Spencer Hughes developing the Ls 3/6 at the BBC before going on to start Spendor. His BC1 is an extremely close relative of this Rogers BBC LS 3/6. I finished by saying well if you do come across any of the original drivers please let me know. He laughed stating that he hadn't seen a single pair of these monitors come through his shop since the 70's and if he did he would keep them because they are his all time favorite - these things are bloody rare.

Might be a little bit of hike for me to use your speaker guy....

I will keep my eye out for the Spendor's.

 

[bushpilot]

Trolling the local CL ads this morning and found a listing just labeled Home Speakers. Pics showed them to be Rogers BBC Studio Monitor's. Very little info on them but what there was sounded promising. Speaker bug bit and so I arranged to pick them up on the way home from work tonight.

Cabinets and grills are in near mint condition. A little work with Howard's Rest-or-Finish and Feed-N-Wax and they are once again a shining example of British speaker craftsmanship. Also came with the original stands and cables. Though I am not sure how to tell their polarity. The plug into the speaker only fits one way but not sure if I have them hooked up to the receiver correctly.

Early listening experience is very positive. Running them with a Marantz 2245.

Anyone familiar with these? Some of what I read may indicate a KEF woofer and possibly Celestion tweeter but I really don't want to take the back off of them to find out at this point. The seller was the son of the original owner so I am guessing they have never been opened.

I am an original owner of a pair of Rogers Export Monitor II speakers. They have been in my McIntosh system since 1980. Have tried several other speakers over the ensuing years, such as the Harbeth's, but have remained with the Rogers. I even have a new pair of woofers for them; thinking that they might need replacing. They have a lot of hours on them as they are in operation nearly every day and they still sound great. Have original Rogers stands for them as you can see the couple of pic's that follow.

Bill

 

[Wolverine]

I am an original owner of a pair of Rogers Export Monitor II speakers. They have been in my McIntosh system since 1980. Have tried several other speakers over the ensuing years, such as the Harbeth's, but have remained with the Rogers. I even have a new pair of woofers for them; thinking that they might need replacing. They have a lot of hours on them as they are in operation nearly every day and they still sound great. Have original Rogers stands for them as you can see the couple of pic's that follow.

Bill

Bill

Thanks for the pics! Those look like some nice speakers!
Out of curiosity what woofers did you use in yours?

 

[Goldjazz]

Nice one Bill,

To all - Thought I'd add my thoughts on my speakers since listening to them for several months now. I've since tired a few decent speakers on my setup (JBL jubals, Acoustic Research AR6's) and still nothing comes close to my Rogers LS 3/6's. The Midrange is special, the way they treat vocals and acoustic is super delicate and sweet. Not amazing for bass or highs and not a tremendously big sound. But they come alive with certain music e.g when I listen to Auld Triangle by Luke Kelly (which is mainly vocals) or Radiohead Creep (acoustic) I've not heard better. Also, as mentioned before, delicate atmospheric stuff, like Air's song Biological, suits them well. They also seem to be sensitive to the pairing with the amplifier. I have a Sansui Au 10000 (same as Au 11000a) and an Accuphase E303 both decent amps. The Rogers sound ok with the Sansui, but just so sweet with the Accuphase. Whereas my JBL's sound better with the Sansui than the Accuphase. Not sure if the Accuphase/Rogers paring is a special thing, but I recently visited a guy who's been selling amps and speakers for years he loves the Accuphase E303 and when asked what speakers sound the best through that amp he said Rogers for sure. Anyway bottom line, is if you see a pair of these grab em, recap em, experiment with some different amps and enjoy.

 

[Wolverine]

Nice one Bill,

To all - Thought I'd add my thoughts on my speakers since listening to them for several months now. I've since tired a few decent speakers on my setup (JBL jubals, Acoustic Research AR6's) and still nothing comes close to my Rogers LS 3/6's. The Midrange is special, the way they treat vocals and acoustic is super delicate and sweet. Not amazing for bass or highs and not a tremendously big sound. But they come alive with certain music e.g when I listen to Auld Triangle by Luke Kelly (which is mainly vocals) or Radiohead Creep (acoustic) I've not heard better. Also, as mentioned before, delicate atmospheric stuff, like Air's song Biological, suits them well. They also seem to be sensitive to the pairing with the amplifier. I have a Sansui Au 10000 (same as Au 11000a) and an Accuphase E303 both decent amps. The Rogers sound ok with the Sansui, but just so sweet with the Accuphase. Whereas my JBL's sound better with the Sansui than the Accuphase. Not sure if the Accuphase/Rogers paring is a special thing, but I recently visited a guy who's been selling amps and speakers for years he loves the Accuphase E303 and when asked what speakers sound the best through that amp he said Rogers for sure. Anyway bottom line, is if you see a pair of these grab em, recap em, experiment with some different amps and enjoy.

:thmbsp::thmbsp:

They really are sweet speakers! :yes:

 

[sax6]

Nice find! I'd love to find a par of those!

Big +1:thmbsp:

 

[lockie]

Hello,
I was considering a pair of L3/6 's . I have the studio 1's and am worried that they won't sound as good. Why do you love yours so much.
I appreciate your help.

Lockie

 

[Wolverine]

Hello,
I was considering a pair of L3/6 's . I have the studio 1's and am worried that they won't sound as good. Why do you love yours so much.
I appreciate your help.

Lockie

First off - Welcome to AK.

Listening to mine right now.
What impresses me is that do just about everything right in terms of highs and lows. Which means I can play any type of music on them and they will perform. They do vocals better than any speaker I own and I have some fairly decent speakers including Von Schweikert VR2's, KLH 5's DCM Time Windows 1's and ADS L400's. I would not hesitate to grab them if you have the chance

 

[Goldjazz]

Hey Lockie,

I haven't heard the Studio 1a's yet but I know a guy who own's a store selling vintage speakers and he rates the 1a's as the pretty much the best he has heard and he has listened to a heck of a lot of speakers (but he hasn't heard the Ls 3/6's). So definitely hang on to the 1as if you like em. As for the Ls 3/6's if I am just listening to music which is vocals with say an acoustic guitar at low volume they are just really clear and sweet. I wouldn't have them as my only pair as I listen to a lot of rock too. So I prefer my JBL L110's for listening to rock, electronic, and jazz with lots of instruments, basically anything where a big multi layered sound is asked for. The L110's are more punchy with tighter bass. While these Rogers are my choice for clean accoustic especially if listening at low volume and as Wolverine says amazing with vocals. So I'd more recommend them as part of a collection as opposed to the all rounder, depends what music you like I guess.

 

[Goldjazz]

mint pair sold

FYI a mint pair of these rare babies just sold on ebay in the uk for USD$2300. Take a look if you want to see an untouched pair.

 

[brianjrealto]

Trolling the local CL ads this morning and found a listing just labeled Home Speakers. Pics showed them to be Rogers BBC Studio Monitor's. Very little info on them but what there was sounded promising. Speaker bug bit and so I arranged to pick them up on the way home from work tonight.

Cabinets and grills are in near mint condition. A little work with Howard's Rest-or-Finish and Feed-N-Wax and they are once again a shining example of British speaker craftsmanship. Also came with the original stands and cables. Though I am not sure how to tell their polarity. The plug into the speaker only fits one way but not sure if I have them hooked up to the receiver correctly.

Early listening experience is very positive. Running them with a Marantz 2245.

Anyone familiar with these? Some of what I read may indicate a KEF woofer and possibly Celestion tweeter but I really don't want to take the back off of them to find out at this point. The seller was the son of the original owner so I am guessing they have never been opened.

great price the seller got!

wow... 15 ohm speakers? that's needing a huge power amp to drive them...

 

[Wolverine]

FYI a mint pair of these rare babies just sold on ebay in the uk for USD$2300. Take a look if you want to see an untouched pair.

Yeah I think I saw that. That is a bit more than what I paid for mine....

 

[Goldjazz]

Yeah I think I saw that. That is a bit more than what I paid for mine....

Ha yeah me too...we got lucky been keeping my eyes out for the original woofer and a single NOS one sold last year some time for quite a bit too

 

[Wolverine]

Ha yeah me too...we got lucky been keeping my eyes out for the original woofer and a single NOS one sold last year some time for quite a bit too

Good hunting!!

I see there is a pair of L3/5's on the shop goodwill.com site that have a current bid of over $700