db101

The Rogers Loudspeaker db101

From "Listener Hi-Fi & Music Review Autumn 1997".

Most people associate Rogers with tradition. There's that too, but the dB101 is something altogether different. Review by Chris Beeching.

Rogers dB101 loudspeakers: $399 per pair. Distributed by Rocelco Inc., 24 Viceroy Road, Unit 1, Concord, Ontario L4K 2L9, Canada. (905)738-0737 http://hi-fidelity.com

Rumour has it that all speakers should look and sound the same (i.e., just like real life) and be unobtrusive. Some prefer to have speakers that make a statement, either about their wallet, their ears, or their dramatic prowess. (i.e., I can persuade the wife to tolerate anything.) There comes a time, however, when these things don't fall quite so readily to mind. The Rogers dB101 is a case in point.

Sculpted to vaguely resemble that most macho of all male accessories, a motor racing helmet (you mean you don't have one at home?), all aesthetic considerations end there. Resemble a motor-racing helmet it does, but allusions to high speed or noise and fumes go no further than this. This is a small, affordable, but seriously intended speaker whose pretensions far outshine the near-boombox styling in favor of appealing to a much more refined and serious home-decor-inspired hi-fi.

It would be hard to hide a pair of dB101s. However, with the wide variety of finishes (including such choices as 'Music Red', 'Rich', and 'Opal'), it is relatively easy to integrate into a room no matter what the decor. It fits in mainly because of its style acceptability, in that it is quite unlike the traditional box. With its rounded relief, its smallish dimensions, and its light physical weight, it can be perched in places where more ordinary speakers would rapidly come to grief.

Electrically, it's quite efficient, nudging the 92-dB/Watt sensitivity point. And with a power handling capacity of some 25 to 125 Watts, it should suit many, many applications. It's also intended for some less domestic situations, its weight is a mere 5 pounds, so arrays of them can be installed into pubs, clubs, discos, and the like with little strain on traditional single speaker fixing brackets.

Inevitably, perhaps, there's a downside to this little gem, and that's the lack of bass extension. But, dear reader, take heart. There is on the horizon (but as yet still wearing the dark glasses of disguise) a subwoofer in the offing. Apparently, the difficulty had been in matching the speed of the sub to the dB101.

But more of that later.

As you now most likely know my systems, the dB's were connected up, and given a nice long weekend to run in. The fiddly bare-wire clips weren't to my taste. But then, heck, you can't have everything in life. When serious (ha! serious) listening began, boombox music was the last thing that sprang to my mind, no matter how prevalent it may have been in my pre-listening thoughts.

Here was a refined speaker, capable of great dynamics, of stunning imaging and considerable poise and finesse.

It's true that the bottom end was lacking a little weight and that the support of a judicious sub would pay huge dividends, but the "rest" of this speaker is superb. It doesn't matter what sort of music you play or like, if you can make allowances for the lack of extreme low frequency production, then the dB101's won't fail to please. They match the clarity of a single-ended amp in the midrange and they have the speed and slam of the push-pulls in the lower end they can clout and punch with solid-state authority and be subtle and intimate with the very best of any design. Their transparency is commendable for a cone design and they can reveal quite clearly any difference in recordings - a facet missing in many "superior" designs.

Over a longer time period, the lack of bottom end with heavy rock material could become a little irksome, but (surprisingly, in many respects) its presentation was not so damning in the classical and jazz arenas. The area in which they really excelled, though, was vocals. Somehow, Rogers have got the mix just right. Whether I chose the smoky sound of Linda Rondstadt singing jazz, Karla Bonoff or Mary Black with more "folky" material, or such divas as Annie Lennox, the presentation was nothing short of tremendous. Male vocals were also well presented; the greatest test for me has always been BBC Radio 3's presenters: Any chestiness and the product's too bass heavy. Any undue sibilance and the highs are too sharp. But here they were just right, almost as if I was listening to them right before me. Commendation indeed.

There is another way to produce more bass by the way. The dB101 has a neat bracket arrangement so that more than one can be mounted on the same stand. In fact, up to four can be accommodated in this way. The "radiating area" is thus considerably larger, and much more bass (though still tight, deep and clean) is the benefit with no detraction from the original comments about speed and transparency. And they're still cheap enough in this guise to make multi-speakering a viable option.

In truth they're a near to mid-ground monitor; get too far away from them and they start to lose their punch, get closer to them, and they perform really well.

Audition before you buy, as with any product, but make sure your preconceptions are well put away, otherwise they'll have you really tied up in the "a speaker this size shouldn't do this" argument. And you'll find out that this speaker wins hands down.

Quality: * * *

Value: * * *

It all began when Jim Rogers established the company in 1947. His designs quickly established a reputation for combining technical competence with rich and warm natural sound and, in the process, set a precedent for British audio worldwide. Rogers established what became known as "the British sound" here in North America. In the early seventies, Rogers was commissioned by the BBC to produce the industry-renowned LS3/5a and to date, over 50,000 pairs have been manufactured. Other collaborations followed, creating a range of products that have become standard equipment in recording studios around the world. Little has changed over the years when it comes to the LS3/5a.