I am reluctantly selling these, I purchased them last year from the original owner, he had the cabinets professionally made in the early 80's and fitted the drivers and built the original crossovers himself. As a result the speakers were as good as you could of bought if manufactured. I purchased them as I remembered the articles by Chris Rogers in the 70's about them and that many people raved about them. Neville who owned them has written reviews on a variety of equipment for several HiFi magazines and these were his reference loudspeakers for nearly 30 years.
I am selling them as my wife will not allow them to be a permanent fixture in the lounge, I have tried various positions in the room but she prefers the look of the WB Vectors, otherwise I would probably have kept and used them myself.
In Neville's own words, when he sold them:
"I am reluctantly selling a pair of original Chris Rogers PRO9-TL quarter-wave transmission line loudspeakers finished in teak wood veneer and based around the classic KEF B139 bass driver. These are the actual speakers that have featured in many of my reviews for Hi-Fi Choice magazine over the years. Based on the original Rogers’ design from Practical Hi-Fi and Audio, October 1976, these speakers have been significantly upgraded over the years with new Audax HD12 tweeters fitted with Russ Andrews’ Focus Rings and new Peerless K040-MRF midrange, all replaced recently. The switches of the crossovers have been removed and then completely rebuilt with audiophile components throughout, including ClarityCap polypropylene capacitors, Mills audio grade resistors, and Mundorf 99% silver/1% gold wiring."
I initially just connected them up and enjoyed them, I was rather surprised at just how good they are, extremely good top and mid range, no harshness that my ears can detect, and the transmission lines have the ability to produce some very low bass. Possibly slightly warmer than a modern speaker design but no boom or bloom, for want of a better description.
I decided that they were well worth taking time over doing some light renovation. I inspected inside by removing the front and rear panels, Neville recommended I did so to check on the damping materia,l of combed long hair wool, to ascertain whether it had compressed or moved, this is the main damping material and tuning of the transmission lines. The majority of it was fine but some had shifted and settled so I sourced some new and I supplemented it and puffed up the original. The cabinets are in excellent condition internally and are structurally sound, the damping pads are all in place and intact. The next job was to tackle the Teak veneer, in a few places on both speakers it had bubbled slightly, and also had discoloured over the years and looked a bit orange. After taking some advice I used a heating method with a hot iron on the veneer to re-activate the glue and loose the bubbling, grease proof paper being employed to protect the veneer from marking. This worked very well, I then carefully lightly sanded the veneer, filled any imperfections with cabinet makers wax and applied Danish Oil for the final finish. I think the end result is very good, they are not perfect but are certainly good enough to sit in any lounge.
In summary the PRO9-TL's are are a very well thought out and balanced speaker design, I think these were built to the improved MK2 design. As Chris Rogers indicates in his design article it is possible to tune the transmission lines for more or less bass to suite your taste by decreasing or increasing the amount of combed wool hair in the TL's. The speakers will come with about 0.75kg of new combed wool hair that I have left over, plenty of it if you wish to have a play.
The PRO9-TL's are a relatively efficient and easy to drive speaker, should be good for Valve amps, they also work great with solid state amps. If you are interested in them and want more detail I have a PDF copy of the original Chris Rogers PRO9-TL article from Practical HiFi October 1976 and a review of them done later on, I can send these if you PM your email address.
Speaker drivers are undamaged and all are good, both speaker grills are in good condition, with no holes.
Cabinet size is 38.5” tall on the integral hard wood plinths, part of the design, 13.5” wide and 18” deep. They are not fussy about room positioning, and can go close to a rear wall.
I popped them in the lounge today for a listen just placing them next to my current speakers, IMO they work best with a slight toe in angle. I listened to them with quite number of my favourite test tracks and I have to say they are a remarkable speaker, very well balanced, producing a great soundstage, and natural sound, and no boxiness. They work well across music genres, and give good attack and pace, clearly evident with Paul Simon’s - ‘Boy in a Bubble’ and ‘Graceland’, Eva Cassidy sounds natural and with these, and “The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd” sounds totally real, clear detail of instruments and great natural bass rendition. Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy also sounded great with them. I could go on but it will only make me want to keep them more.
Do not under-estimate how good these speakers are you could spend a great deal of money to get the same level of SQ, if you are able to accommodate them then I think you will be very pleased with the result.
I have thought long and hard on what to ask for them as they are quite a rare find, the drivers alone are still sought after and components in the crossovers are worth quite a bit. Also I have invested quite a bit of time and effort in getting them to where they are now.
I am more than happy to demo them at my home, you can even bring your amp along to get to hear the synergy.
Price dropped to £595 (from £650) as I would like to move these on to keep her indoors happy and then I can then put the money towards a camera.
They would need to be collected from Colyford in Devon, although I may be willing to meet, up to 100 miles with prior arrangement.
If you have any questions please PM me.
I am selling them as my wife will not allow them to be a permanent fixture in the lounge, I have tried various positions in the room but she prefers the look of the WB Vectors, otherwise I would probably have kept and used them myself.
In Neville's own words, when he sold them:
"I am reluctantly selling a pair of original Chris Rogers PRO9-TL quarter-wave transmission line loudspeakers finished in teak wood veneer and based around the classic KEF B139 bass driver. These are the actual speakers that have featured in many of my reviews for Hi-Fi Choice magazine over the years. Based on the original Rogers’ design from Practical Hi-Fi and Audio, October 1976, these speakers have been significantly upgraded over the years with new Audax HD12 tweeters fitted with Russ Andrews’ Focus Rings and new Peerless K040-MRF midrange, all replaced recently. The switches of the crossovers have been removed and then completely rebuilt with audiophile components throughout, including ClarityCap polypropylene capacitors, Mills audio grade resistors, and Mundorf 99% silver/1% gold wiring."
I initially just connected them up and enjoyed them, I was rather surprised at just how good they are, extremely good top and mid range, no harshness that my ears can detect, and the transmission lines have the ability to produce some very low bass. Possibly slightly warmer than a modern speaker design but no boom or bloom, for want of a better description.
I decided that they were well worth taking time over doing some light renovation. I inspected inside by removing the front and rear panels, Neville recommended I did so to check on the damping materia,l of combed long hair wool, to ascertain whether it had compressed or moved, this is the main damping material and tuning of the transmission lines. The majority of it was fine but some had shifted and settled so I sourced some new and I supplemented it and puffed up the original. The cabinets are in excellent condition internally and are structurally sound, the damping pads are all in place and intact. The next job was to tackle the Teak veneer, in a few places on both speakers it had bubbled slightly, and also had discoloured over the years and looked a bit orange. After taking some advice I used a heating method with a hot iron on the veneer to re-activate the glue and loose the bubbling, grease proof paper being employed to protect the veneer from marking. This worked very well, I then carefully lightly sanded the veneer, filled any imperfections with cabinet makers wax and applied Danish Oil for the final finish. I think the end result is very good, they are not perfect but are certainly good enough to sit in any lounge.
In summary the PRO9-TL's are are a very well thought out and balanced speaker design, I think these were built to the improved MK2 design. As Chris Rogers indicates in his design article it is possible to tune the transmission lines for more or less bass to suite your taste by decreasing or increasing the amount of combed wool hair in the TL's. The speakers will come with about 0.75kg of new combed wool hair that I have left over, plenty of it if you wish to have a play.
The PRO9-TL's are a relatively efficient and easy to drive speaker, should be good for Valve amps, they also work great with solid state amps. If you are interested in them and want more detail I have a PDF copy of the original Chris Rogers PRO9-TL article from Practical HiFi October 1976 and a review of them done later on, I can send these if you PM your email address.
Speaker drivers are undamaged and all are good, both speaker grills are in good condition, with no holes.
Cabinet size is 38.5” tall on the integral hard wood plinths, part of the design, 13.5” wide and 18” deep. They are not fussy about room positioning, and can go close to a rear wall.
I popped them in the lounge today for a listen just placing them next to my current speakers, IMO they work best with a slight toe in angle. I listened to them with quite number of my favourite test tracks and I have to say they are a remarkable speaker, very well balanced, producing a great soundstage, and natural sound, and no boxiness. They work well across music genres, and give good attack and pace, clearly evident with Paul Simon’s - ‘Boy in a Bubble’ and ‘Graceland’, Eva Cassidy sounds natural and with these, and “The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd” sounds totally real, clear detail of instruments and great natural bass rendition. Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy also sounded great with them. I could go on but it will only make me want to keep them more.
Do not under-estimate how good these speakers are you could spend a great deal of money to get the same level of SQ, if you are able to accommodate them then I think you will be very pleased with the result.
I have thought long and hard on what to ask for them as they are quite a rare find, the drivers alone are still sought after and components in the crossovers are worth quite a bit. Also I have invested quite a bit of time and effort in getting them to where they are now.
I am more than happy to demo them at my home, you can even bring your amp along to get to hear the synergy.
Price dropped to £595 (from £650) as I would like to move these on to keep her indoors happy and then I can then put the money towards a camera.
They would need to be collected from Colyford in Devon, although I may be willing to meet, up to 100 miles with prior arrangement.
If you have any questions please PM me.
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