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Rectilinear Speakers like these any good?

pilotputz

pilotputz

Super Member
I picked these up today at the local thrift and was curious if anyone could tell me anything about them. They stand 34 inches tall, 18 wide and 12 deep. The woofer is a Jensen C12N and they sound pretty darn nice through my vintage Pilot 232!!

P.S. Don't you just love that iron burn on the carpet!! Classy, isn't it? Gotta love rentals in college towns...
 

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they are rectilinear high boy III,there is also a lowboy version that i have. very good sounding speaker indeed. they were made in the bronx.ny. the midrange are made by philips.as you stated the woofer is made by jensen.not sure who made the tweeters. enjoy them.
 
Check your tweeters- they can be blown, if so Parts Express- linked thru here- has some Pioneer cone types that are identicle.
One of the better sounding vintage speakers out there!!
DC
 
Thanks for the info, OLDTIMESOUND!! High boy III, huh? Interesting name. They DO sound pretty nice. I've never heard speakers from NY before. I think I'm going to enjoy these!! Take care and thanks again!!
 
I'm always confused by the spattering approach to the tweeter placment on these. Seems like it goes against what should sound good but at the same time everyone who has them likes them. :scratch2:
 
I think the concept is to increase the apparent sweet spot. If you have the speakers mounted on short stands, you should still be able to get decent imaging, even when seated on the floor.
 
Hey Snade!
Thank you very, very much!! Your post is awesome and I NEVER thought I'd see the original paperwork on them. I was inside them for a quick peek when I first got them home and saw that the one cap in the crossover was a 60uf 25v monster! On your suggestion I will certainly replace them: God bless Parts Express!!
Thanks again to you guys for your feedback. I've been listening them since I got them home around 11 this morning and I REALLY like them! Good find! I'm a happy boy!:banana:
 
I was just perusing the original paperwork that Snade was kind enough to upload and I noticed that these Highboys recommend minimal power input at 20 wpc. I was hoping to run my pair with my Pilot SA-232 tube amp that puts out about 17 wpc. Will this prove to be an issue?:scratch2:
 
Minimal power ratings are the power required to drive the speaker to its specifications. I don't believe it will be an issue. 17 watt tube amps will generally sound as loud as 25-30 watt solid state amps in most cases.
Nice speakers! Enjoy!
 
Hey Pilot.

Your highboys look to be in great shape like mine.

Couple of ideas:

I have the same original grill cloth. It tends to collect dust over the years and look orangish. I wiped my down with a damp towel (easy circular motions with the grill cloth attached to speaker) and the grill cloth became darker - closer to the original dark brown color.

My cabinets had minor scratches on top and were kind of dry and dull. I just wiped them down with a rag and some Howard Restor-A-Finish (walnut) and they now look great.

Your grill cloth is attached with the original nails. Mine are the same. But many used highboys have their grill cloth attached with add-on velcro because if you remove the grill cloth several times, the nail holes in the masonite frame of the grill cloth gets larger and the nails no longer hold. Just be careful putting them back on and try not to take the grill cloth on and off too frequently.

I don't have any experience with tube amps, but for a solid state amp, I think the Rectilinear III speakers require an amp with at least 75 watts per channel to really show what these speakers can do. I run mine with a vintage Marantz receiver with more than 100 watts per and it sounds fantastic.

The midrange on these speakers is superb and several fans of the highboys on AK think they are particularly awesome playing jazz music.​

Here is a photo of one of my Highboys with grill cloth cleaned and some Howard Restor-A-Finish on the cabs:

rectilinear_III_highboy.jpg


Have fun. Snade
 
Rectilinear produced many excellent models, and the Model III Highboy is their top of the line. In addition to the document already posted a link to here, there is additional information on the marque here.

Here's my pair - recapped, refinished, regrilled and mids rebuilt. They are my primary speaker, and I will not trade them for anything:

rect-2.jpg
 
Hey Snade and Njord!!

Thanks again for all your help with info on these speakers and leading me to other posts. Your pictures are AWESOME!! Your highboys look to be in wonderful condition. And Snade, I like your choice in vinyl: Especially the Cat album on the counter!!
I took a look inside the speakers today so that I could order up some new caps and noticed that all four of the tweeters are stamped "Made in Denmark". With the midrange drivers being Philips from Holland, it sure seems that Rectilinear made sure to get quality parts!:thmbsp:
Also, the Jensen C12NF has the date code of 220041. So it looks like my pair was built around the end of 1970.
I SURE love the sound of these babies!! I've got them all set up in the living room and have been playing them nonstop since I brought them home yesterday. I've got them incorporated into my system and am loving it!!
 
pilotputz said:
I took a look inside the speakers today so that I could order up some new caps and noticed that all four of the tweeters are stamped "Made in Denmark".
Click to expand...
There were a couple of suppliers for the woofers in the Model III, but the mid and tweets were always the same: I believe the manufacturer of the tweets and supertweets is SEAS of Denmark.

I believe, again, that SEAS also supplied the drivers in the Dynaco series of speakers, among others.

If you follow the previously provided link to the Rectilinear database and go to the photo section, you will find photos of the First and Second generation Highboy x-over to help you date yours.
 
Hello again, Njord.
I had to move to my other computer with Adobe to check out your site. That is SO cool!!! As it turns out my highboys are from 1971. That was the first time I got to see what the Lowboys look like. As it turns out, an old book store / audio shop a couple of towns over has a pair of those that he's looking to sell: I'm going to see how much he wants for them. If they sound as good as these Highboys I'll be taking them off his hands!!
Since you sure seem to know Rectilinear, any advice on what brand of caps I should pick up for the crossovers? Thanks again, Njord, for all your help!!

Audio Karma and you fine gentlemen ROCK!!!
 
pilotputz said:
Hello again, Njord.
As it turns out, an old book store / audio shop a couple of towns over has a pair of those that he's looking to sell: I'm going to see how much he wants for them. If they sound as good as these Highboys I'll be taking them off his hands!!
Click to expand...
I have both, and to my ears, the Lowboys do NOT sound the same as the Highboys, particularly with the extremely heavy latticework grill in place. Removing the grill greatly improves the sound.
Rectilinear, in their ads, made a big deal about how the High and Low models had the exact same components, the exact same crossovers, the exact same cabinet volume, and were sonically identical. Maybe if both my versions were recapped that would be true, but as of now, they are quite different sounding, with the Lowboys being a bit bloated and thick in the low end. The Highboys are much more transparent. But I enjoy both of them. :D
 
When these came out in 1969 or thereabouts, they were serious speakers: At a MRSP of $600 for the pair, they were a pretty high-end product: For comparison, the TOTL Marantz receiver (Model 18) at the time was $695.

Read the old reviews of the Model III in the database - they will blow you away.

The AK resident Highboy x-over specialists are Judgeschreber and RolfZetterberg - if they don't chime in, try PMing them. The two x-over schematics in the database should give most all you need, anyways.

I will also go though my notes to see if I wrote down what caps were put into mine, but mine is the First Gen and I believe you have the second.

The Lowboys are excellent speakers, too - they were my first pair. I would expect them to need a recap - otherwise they are likely to sound a little veiled.
 
Hey joelongwood. Thanks for your input. I'm in pretty good with the fella selling the Lowboys; I'll see if I can't take them for a test drive, so to speak, and hear for myself how similar or different they sound. Thanks again for the heads-up.

Hello again, Njord.
I think maybe I was misunderstood. I know the value of the caps that I need: Two 60uf and two 2uf. What I was asking was whether or not there was a specific brand that you thought was superior to the others. I usually go through Parts Express and buy the Daytons; if I don't hear otherwise from someone on this thread they will most likely be what I'll go with.
 
I used to run the XII, for about 20 years. They were great and it took a pretty good speaker to replace them. Mine seem to be slightly different to the ones pictured on that site. I still have them in the shed so I should fire them up again one day.

I reckon Rectilinear were great speakers, you have done well to get a pair of these.

DS
 
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