Rogers International (UK)

of Huddersfield, maker of loudspeakers

of Virginia Water, Surrey (2021)

Successor to Rogers Developments Co.

1975 Brian Pook became managing director. The Rogers Developments Co was a licensee for the LS3/5A and LS3/6 BBC Monitor speakers but was struggling to maintain production because of unreliable/unavailable supplies. Eventually it went into receivership.

c.1976 Jim Pook and others bought all of the Rogers items at the liquidator's auction, bought the Rogers name from the receiver, leased the factory, renegotiated the BBC LS3/5A licence and started the business again, with financial support from Michael O'Brien, under Swisstone Electronics Limited, an "off the shelf" company.

A new design was developed in-house, using a special bass unit (from Dalesford in Yorkshire) and rationalised the design for manufacture, resulting in the Rogers Export Monitor speaker, a product free of any BBC licence.

Exporting became a key part of the new business.

1978 Acquired the Chartwell Company (a company started by former BBC employees who had taken a licence to make the LS3/5A, and operated from a factory in Mitcham), acquiring the BBC profile cone moulding tools from Hyder Cones and make speaker drive units in-house which were used to create the Rogers Studio 1 speaker.

1980s Rogers loudspeakers were made by Swisstone Electronics Ltd of London SE6

1982 Brian Pook left and Richard Ross became managing director

2001 Private limited company incorporated by Michael Edmund Noble

2003 Company became Richard Allan Audio Ltd

2004 Name changed to RA Technology Ltd of Brighouse.

See Also

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Sources of Information

• Companies House filings
• [2] Brian Pook's memories of Rogers 1975-82
• [3] Rogers Hi Fi