Rogersound Labs
Compression Guide (CG) Stereo System
While strolling through the halls of THE Show Newport a few weeks ago I came across an old familiar product name that I had not seen for many years, Rogersound Labs. When I first moved to Southern California over 30 years ago RSL, as it was known, ran a chain of stereo stores known for providing good sound and great value. One store was located just down the street from where I lived during those days and, not having much money at the time, I was very attracted to the good deals available there as were my friends. RSL was especially known for their store brand speaker line (they started out as a speaker manufacturer) that featured good efficiency, a forward but smooth sound and a great beat that made music jump out of the speakers. As time went by, the RSL chain was sold by the original owners and slowly passed out of the scene as the economy in SoCal wavered.
Around comes 2011 and not only is the RSL brand back but so is the original owner, the very personable and enthusiastic Howard Rodgers. Mr. Rodgers retired comfortably after selling his retail chain, but some years back, after the chain went out of business, he purchased back the RSL trademark and intellectual property. He didn't do anything with this for several years, but about three years ago he began building his own ultimate home theater system. He says the custom speakers he came up with "blew the socks off" of both casual and professional acquaintances he played them for, and this eventually led to the company's re-entry into the audio market. Today's RSL speakers are available over the web and consist of a line of 5.1, 7.1 and 7.2 Home Theater speakers plus the Audiophile Stereo System and a Studio Monitor System.
In his demo room at THE Show Rodgers was appropriately featuring his "audiophile" stereo system consisting of the CG4 Monitors and the RSL Speedwoofer™ 10 subwoofer, available on the web as a system for $1250 (with free shipping!). Mr. Rodgers is not a fan of fancy power cords and speaker wire and he was using a modest CD player and integrated amp for his demonstrations. Kind of sacrilegious for a show aimed at audiophiles. The subwoofer, which produced really startling bass, was actually hidden in the back of the room providing the illusion that the modest-sized CG4's were real boomers. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the RSL room including my brief conversation with Mr. Rodgers, so after THE Show I requested a set of speakers to review.
