In the summer I put my Rogers db101 speakers up for sale at eBay. Within 24 hours of putting them up I withdrew them from sale because I realised how much I like them! In fact the pictures in this blog entry were taken for that eBay sale.
I originally purchased my Rogers db101s on eBay in June 2003. They had been the speakers in my living room Hi-Fi. Then in July I decided to sell the components of my living room Hi-Fi, I sold the amplifier and tuner leaving the db101s without a role.
First a bit about them and their appeal. According to the manual the styling is by Peter Stevens and the acoustics are by Andy Whittle. Peter Stevens is credited on the manual with projects including the McLaren F1 amongst some other exotic British cars. Andy Whittle is described as the Chief Design Engineer, Rogers International, UK Ltd.
They are pretty small with the following dimensions in millimetres:
| Height: | 270 |
| Width: | 190 |
| Depth: | 193 |
The cabinet is injection-moulded ABS painted black and fitted with aluminium side-panels. The side panels are painted in cool colours and in fact there was a selection of nine possible finishes available, I haven’t seen them all just just a couple. The back of the cabinet is convex top to bottom looked at from the rear. According to the manual: The cabinet profile and carefully contoured back panel ensure that all internal standing waves are minimised, resulting in a cleaner and greater dynamic musical presentation.
I think possibly the most distinctive aspect of the design is what Rogers described as the floating tweeter. From the manual: The tweeter ‘floats’ in the middle of the bass reflex port. This design unique to Rogers optimises the full range directionality and driver integration of the db101. Looked at from the front the tweeter is in the middle of the bass reflex port. I’ve never seen this done in any speaker, I wonder if it really does bring any benefits or if it was done because it just looks rather cool.
From the rear the db101s look rather cheap I think. The back panel has clips for the cables and touching it suggests plastic rather than the more impressive sounding injection-moulded ABS. Although they look cheap I like the cable clips because they are really secure. The cable I’m using is bog standard stuff from Maplin which works just fine. Oddly enough on my speakers the top screw is missing for the back panel for each speaker. Fortunately the back panels seem to be very well screwed on and are very secure.
Athough Peter Stevens, the stylist, had been involved in the design of the Maclaren F1 and other exotic British cars I think the one car they remind me of is in fact the Frogeye Sprite. It’s those bass reflex ports with the tweeters in them sticking out like the headlamps of the Frogeye Sprite.
The Rogers db101s were very much ahead of their time I believe when they were put on the market in 1996. They were initially priced very high at just under £400, Rogers dropped this price substantially to boost sales, but this wasn’t enough. The Rogers company went out of business.
In 1996 the vast majority of Hi-Fi speakers were wooden boxes, it was a much more conservative market than today. There were a few different looking designs around but these tended to be viewed by Hi-Fi enthusiasts rather disparagingly as “lifestyle speakers”. I think the market for speakers today is very much more diverse. I feel that the Rogers db101s would fit today’s market better than that of 1996.
These speakers are suitable for many roles, not just Hi-Fi. They are extremely robust and can be used for small PA work or maybe for providing music at a party. As Mike Hennessy points out at his website (link at bottom) there is a protection device built into the crossover. They can also be wall mounted if required as the reflex port is on the front. Putting them on shelves or close to a wall will destroy the stereo imaging of which they are capable but I guess this is true of all speakers. They are quite bass light so mounting close to the wall does give a good balance by reinforcing the bass. The db101s are also very good for nearfield monitoring.
As I said at the top I’d been using them as the speakers for the Hi-Fi in my living room. The amplifier there was an Arcam with 40 wpc. They sounded very excellent with that amplifier and would also play very loud if wanted, although I never did.
When I was selling that living room Hi-Fi on ebay I was also looking for a good amplifier/speaker system for my computer. Obviously I had thought of using the db101 prior to the sale but the bulk of a regular Hi-Fi stereo amplifier had put me off. Then I discovered the Pro-ject Amp Box.
This is a 20 watts per channel class D amplifier. It is very small as can be seen from the pic. With this the Roberts db101s work beautifully as speakers for my computer. I’m using the standard analogue out port from my Mac Pro and this just behaves like a DAC and pre-amplifier for the Proj-ect power amplifier. For my particular purposes 20 watts per channel is enough but for playing really loudly the db101s would probably like a few more watts. I find they go quite loud enough. In fact I am sitting very close to the db101s, they are on a shelf on the wall behind the computer, the desk is right up against the wall, so it is not far.
I’m really glad I didn’t sell my Rogers db101s. They are excellent in their new role as monitors for my computer.
I’ve used the following websites for some information for this blog entry. You will find more info here about the Rogers db101s.
- Mark Hennessy’s website
- Mark Hennessy takes a pair apart and gives an excellent analysis of the design.
- GB Audio Data Sheet
- Facts and figures are here.
- Home Theater Review
- Ken Kessler writes in his inimitable style. He was very optimistic about them in this review which must have been written soon after their release.
- Sound on Sound Review
- Paul White likes them as well. A pity the general public weren’t enthused by these reviews
- Rogers International Ltd.
- Looking at this website you’d think they are still being manufactured