Rogers Studio 1 Assistance Needed

[Charles218]

Hello,

I am new to this group having just joined after acquiring a pair of Rogers Studio 1 Speakers. Up until now I had only heard of Rogers, this is the first pair that I have owned. These speakers came to me almost free, the total cost was $20, that comes out to about £13. Of course, at that price I am not surprised that one of the woofer does not function, everything else appears to be in good condition.

So I will be on the hunt for an original replacement, but before that happens I am asking for your help in removing the faulty driver from the cabinet. I've removed the back of the cabinet and removed the nuts from the woofer mounting bolts, and from there I am stuck. The driver will not budge, there is absolutely no movement whatsoever. When I try to remove the mounting bolts from the front, I am not able to turn any of the them, it is as though they are glued in place. Is there a special trick to removing the woofer?

Any help with this would be appreciated.

Thanks!!!

 

[RobHolt]

Hi Charles,

Nice find! - we've been using an earlier version of this model to aid development of a new Audiosmile loudspeaker so high high regard for this line.
I have the predecessor Export Monitor and on that model the driver is held via internal bolts into front mounted threads.
The Studio looks like bolts through the front and nuts at the rear. My best guess is that the tubber surround on the driver, because it's rear mounted, has stuck to the back of the baffle after all these years. If that's the case you'll beed to move carefully in order not to rip the surround.

Possible the driver basket bolt holes are threaded which might explain why the bolts feel tight.

Wrt replacements, you want the Rogers driver with cast basket - not the earlier Dalesford model using a pressed steel basket.

Might be worth a visit here for more information - http://www.mhennessy3.f9.co.uk/rogers/index.htm
Perhaps contact Mike since I think he's used the Studio.

Good luck with the search and please let us know how things progress.
We like to document this stuff to assist others

 

[Charles218]

Hello Rob, and thanks for the response!

I just took a couple of photos and will attempt to attach them here. You can see that the woofer mounting bolts enter through the front and are held in place with nuts inside the cabinets. The nuts came off rather routinely, but now regardless of how much force I use the actual bolts do not move. I feel like I am using as much force as is reasonable and anymore might be destructive.

Is this woofer also glued in place? Looking at one of the bolts there appears to be a brown substance in between the bolt and the basket. I just want to make sure, before I graduate to using more force, that I'm not missing something obvious here.

In trying to upload photos I am getting errors. The size limitation for jpeg's is listed as 1mb and mine are in the 100 kb range. With two photos uploaded at about 186 kb in size it says that I am over my limit. Sounds like mb's & kb's are being confused.

 

[Charles218]

So, can anyone who has removed a woofer from the Studio 1's tell me if there were any issues getting it out? Should I just be able to remove the bolts from the front?

Thanks!

 

[Charles218]

Success!

I was finally able to remove the driver, it appears that it was frozen in place and just needed a little extra force and I was able to loosen it.

When I tested the driver in the cabinet and still hooked up, there was silence. Now with the driver removed, I do get a reading in my voltmeter and it does function. However, if I slightly depress the cone while it is playing, the sound changes drastically and will cut out. I would assume that this is a problem with the coil. Since I am not a master guru when it comes to speakers, I am again asking for advice from this forum.

I am in the United States and would like to take this to an experienced "Rogers" technician here, can anyone direct me to someone who is knowledgeable? I suspect that finding an original replacement would be very difficult, but possibly one of you can advise me as to any sources.

Thanks!

 

[RobHolt]

Hi Charles,

Good work.

First thing to check is the area around the neck of the driver where the wires exit. Are they worn causing intermittent connection?
Also check where they attach to the terminal block on the basket.

Sometimes with these old drivers the cone can sag, knocking the voice coil out of alignment. Rotating the driver 180 deg and letting it stand for a few days will sometimes help.

There are places in the uk able to repair a faulty voice coil but I've no idea in the US.

 

[Charles218]

Hello Rob,

On first look, the wire connections are look fine. I will go down tomorrow and feed a signal to the driver and poke at the wires.

I will put on a good hunt for an original driver, that is my first priority. If that fails, and I do understand that finding one will be difficult, I will then seek out a good tech. From all that I have read, these are very nice speakers with first rate components. I want to make sure that I can locate someone with an appreciation for the history of these speakers. I do have an excellent speaker repair shop locally, perhaps they have experience with Rogers.

Any suggestions by you, or anyone on the forum, on where I might find an original would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[RobHolt]

If I spot any Studio 1 drivers I'll message you.

The sound output changing as the driver cone is moved within the voice coil gap isn't necessarily a fault, since the linear peak-peak excursion limits for some of these old drivers if fairly limited. If I depress the cone on my Export more than a few mm it loses a lot of output, effect of hand on cone accepted!

Rubbing sounds often respond well to the upside down trick.
If the visual check reveals nothing, remount the driver upside down in the cabinet, leave it alone for a couple of weeks and see how they sound.

 

[Charles218]

I reinstalled the driver in the cabinet last night and gave it a playing test, what a stunning sound, absolutely wonderful. So the driver does work, well to a point. After listening for several minutes, Rutter's "Gloria", the output from this one troublesome driver just stopped. Clearly there is a short and from the outside there is not an obvious sign of the problem.

So, I will take it to a local tech, actually it is about a two hour drive but well worth it. Hopefully this can be fixed and negate the need for a replacement driver.

Thanks so much for your help with this!!!