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Rectilinear Classic Speakers


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I am a little surprised that I have not seen Rectilinear mentioned on this site. While they were made in Long Island which is on the edge of New England, the model III was highly rated in its day and I believe represented the unaccentuated New England sound. The dealer I worked for in the late 70's sold the whole line: the III, IIIa which was a low boy version of the III, the mini-III, model XII, and XIa. We had just gotten in the model 5 when I left the industry. I have seen a model 7 being sold on EBAY along with all the models I mentioned above from time to time. I would like to recommend that Rectilinear be added as a classic speaker to the list already developed. While I am not aware of any specific sites dedicated to Rectilinear, Roger Russell sells product review reprints of tests that have been done on all the Rectilinear products. I would hope to see postings from others who have had experience with these products. Thanks Dave

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  • 7 months later...

Rectilinear III was selected I think by Popular Science Magazine in an article called something like the audio system I wish I owned along with as I recall the AR amplifier and Empire 999VE cartridge. I don't recall the turntable but it might have been a Dual.

Rectilinear III was reported by one of the popular magazines of the time to sound exactly like the Quad ESL63 except in the bass where it was much better. I recall upon having heard them several times that they were excellent speakers. I met an audio engineer about 2 years ago who still had a pair in perfect condition. I am disappointed that you don't see them on e-bay even occasionally. I thought that they were manufactured in the Bronx. They seemed to me to have shifted directions in the mid 70's when they hired Dick Shahanian. He took credit for engineering the model V which was a large 3 way 12" bookshelf design using a 3/4 inch Audax tweeter (new at the time) which he said responded (in the version he used) to 30Khz and was crossed over at 11 khz. Personally, my preference was for the Model III.

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  • 11 months later...
Guest Tyreman

Yes I used Rectinlinear speakers from about 1970 on to about 1985 then again in the early 90's for a bit(got a used pair of 111's from a stereo dealer cheap). I used the 11a's,12's 111a's in my hi fi excursions and history. The latter(111's was/were used with a Carver M-400 amp,yamaha preamp.

They also on the last manufactured newer versions of the 111's featured a rear black round traditional chasis fuse with a 2.5 amp installed with a spare fuse/holder too if memory serves me correctly.

Rectilinear Speakers were made in the Bronx,NY 107 Bruckner Boulevard.

The speakers always had triwall(3 cardboard layers) shipping containers.

The service dept. was good, at one time run by an engineer m. weiner I believe.

They used silicone at one time, hot melt style to "bond" the drivers to the baffle board,some of the x-overs were fastened similarily.

Low Time delay distortion was a major stated advantage.

Some people compared on the basis of the cone tweeters and did not listen,if you listened they held their own even against some very expensive speakers of the time.

The only "dog" in the line was the 111 lowboy with that fretwork grille better left off when used.

The 111's earned a rave review in Stereo Review by Julian Hirsch at one time.

The newer entries before they went out of business were pretty clean to with the angled back speaker stands,long haired lambswool inside the cabinet. Those were maybe the the model 5 or 7.

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If you go through the old postings, you will see that the Rectilinear III was discussed before. This was IMO the best product that company ever made. It was featured in an issue of (I think) Popular Electronics as the speaker in the article "The Stereo System I Wish I Owned." The AR amplifier was also in that article. Rectilinear III was described as sounding just like Quad ESL 63 except for having better bass than the Quad. I thought it was originally made in the Bronx. IMO, the model V was a big comedown for this company and the beginning of the end. It showed very poorly at a trade show I attended in NYC where it was introduced. The designer thought that tilting it back a few degrees made it time an phase coherent.

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  • 7 years later...

I bought a pair of IIIa's back in 1975 or 76. The cabinets were more utilitarian than the III but I couldn't really hear any difference between the two. In another post, someone claimed the IIIa sounded like a jukebox...if so, the best sounding jukebox I ever heard. By the late 80s, the suspensions in the woofers had rotted away and I tried replacing them with raw drivers but the cabinet really wasn't tuned for them. In 1993 I got a new girlfriend who, while I was out of town, gave the IIIa's away to some kid in her office whose speakers had blown out. She refused to tell me who it was. My beloved IIIa's were history.

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Oh...and I was recently in an antique shop in Vermont and saw a pair of III lowboys. Were fairly scratched up but could probably be refinished no problem. The tag on the read, "Fancy hi-fi speakers from the 1970s - $49" If I had had room in my car, I probably would have snatched them up.

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