Please note: This review was written by Steve Harris and appeared in the June 1993 issue of Hi-Fi News. Please be aware that I haven't been able to contact the holders of the original copyright. If you are the owner of the original copyright, please contact me, and if necessary, I'll remove it from this site.
How many British speaker manufacturers, since the early 1970s, have produced a middle-sized two-way domestic monitor, based on an 8in bass driver in a two-foot high box? It would be easier to list the ones that have not! All such models really owed something to a standard BBC design, the LS3/6. But few speakers on the market today claim, as can the Rogers Studio 7, a direct line of descent from the BBC original.
Rogers first LS3/6-based model was the Export Monitor, based on a 200mm Bextrene-coned bass unit and, like the Spendor BC1, using plywood for the cabinet walls. It was followed by the Studio [1], with an improved version of the 200mm Bextrene unit and the cabinet now built of conventional MDF. The main treble range (3kHz-13kHz) was handled by the (then) ubiquitous Celestion HF1300 unit, while the rest of the spectrum to 20kHz was allocated to a KEF T27 19mm plastic-dome tweeter: this drive-unit line-up survived another revision in 1986.
But developments in design and materials were making the old three-way formula, with its complex power-absorbing crossover, seem outdated and unnecessary. So the Studio 1 was redesigned as a two-way model, the Studio 1a, using Rogers own 205mm polypropylene-coned bass unit and a 30mm metal-dome tweeter. It now also accommodated that modern and rather un-BBC-like notion, bi-wiring.
For the 1993-4 season, Rogers' chief designer Andy Whittle has revised the Studio 1a to produce the new Studio 7. The new model retains the 1a's bitumen-damped 635x305x305mm front-ported cabinet and polypropylene-coned bass unit, but the metal-dome tweeter has been replaced by a 25mm soft-dome Scanspeak unit. This takes over from the bass unit at 3kHx via a new precision-matched seven-element 18dB/octave crossover. The aim, obviously enough, was to improve on the existing model without compromising its virtues. The new bass alignment is better suited to average-sized living rooms, where the 1a could sound boomy. Price of the Studio 7 is £880 per pair in walnut or black ash veneer: rosewood is available to special order.
LISTENING
As a long-term Studio 1a user, I became tolerant of its shortcomings. I was aware that the mid and treble were far from the liquid purity of say, a ribbon design; I knew that the stereo image lacked depth, was dependant on careful speaker placement, and never quite detached itself from the speakers; that the bass could sound loose and overblown, soft to the point of embarrassment on rock; and I knew that the Studio 1a did not excel in conveying rhythmic excitement and could sound 'slow'. But none of these weaknesses was fatal, because the speaker seemed to have a well-balanced and inherently truthful quality.
So what of the Studio 7? Even a few moments' listening was enough to show the superiority over the old model. Gone was the undeniable bass excess, gone was the sense of constraint in the midrange; and gone was the tendency, evident with the 1a, of certain sounds to identify themselves spatially with the tweeter, to the detriment of the stereo illusion. Instead, there was a delightful smoothness to the mid and treble, with a stereo image which seemed to sit free of and behind the boxes, its depth stretching back much further than before. The image also remained convincing over a wide listening area, which makes for relaxed listening. This is achieved in spite of the wide baffle, probably by the careful network design.
The Studio 7 sounded (if this isn't a contradiction) more transparent without actually being more detailed. Its very smoothness may make it sound less detailed than some of the more 'in your face' designs, but it is still in some ways more revealing than the 1a. It is sensitive enough (89dB/W at 1m) to work well even with moderate-powered valve amplifiers.
CONCLUSION
Designer Andy Whittle has pulled off the difficult feat of improving on a classic design, and this model lives up to the high standards set by his predecessor at Rogers, the late Richard Ross. The Studio 7 is relatively uncritical of placement, and will sound civilized and engaging in most environments and with a wide range of ancillaries. Easy to live with, this is an excellent speaker, and, a true domestic monitor.