Rectilinear Research Corporation was a manufacturer of

loudspeaker A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or speaker driver) is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. A ''speaker system'', also often simply referred to as a "speaker" or " ...

s. The company was formed around 1966 and its principal was Morris I. Wiener (alt. sp. "Weiner") of

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. The first known main office location for the company (1966–68) was a
30 Main Street

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. Some time around 1968, the company moved headquarters, manufacturing assembly, and service center t
107 Bruckner Blvd
(E 133rd St.) in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. The company remained at this address until it was shuttered in 1977–8. Arnold Schwartz (Micro-Acoustics, founded in 1966), James Bongiorno (Ampzilla, founded in 1974), Marty Gersten (Ohm Acoustics, founded 1971), Jon Dahlquist (co-founder ith_Saul_B._Marantz.html" ;"title="Marantz.html" ;"title="ith Saul B. Marantz">ith Saul B. Marantz">Marantz.html" ;"title="ith Saul B. Marantz">ith Saul B. Marantzof Dahlquist Phased Array in 1978 ), and Richard Shahinian (later engineer designer with Harman Kardon and founder of Shahinian Acoustics at or around 1975) were at different times and at different stages working with the company as engineers to develop speaker models. The company launched its first model, the Rectilinear III, in 1966.Advertisement
with

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endorsement. The early versions were designed by Arnold Schwartz and later by James Bongiorno (who also designed the Rectilinear X model). The first known independent notice for the "III" is a retailer advertisement dated 12/4/1966. This model, as did many later Rectilinear models, received many positive reviews by audio journalists in major audio magazines, including ''

Stereo Review ''Sound & Vision'' is an American magazine, purchased by AVTech Media Ltd. (UK) in March 2018, covering home theater, audio, video and multimedia consumer products. Before 2000, it had been published for most of its history as ''Stereo Review''. ...

'', ''

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'', ''Buyer's Guide'' Magazine, and ''Stereo & Hi-Fi Times''. Three of the company's print advertisements were illustrated by the artist

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and ran in publications such as ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', '' National Lampoon'', and others in 1973 and 1974. Although formally this model always carried the name "III", it was colloquially often nicknamed the "Highboy" following the launch of the "III Lowboy" (around 1970) in order not to confuse the two models. Both the ''III "Highboy"'' and ''III Lowboy'' are pictured here. By 1971, Rectilinear had expanded its product range to include the following speaker models (MSRP prices per speaker): * III (3-way, six drivers) - 35x18x12" - $279 * III Lowboy (3-way, six drivers) - 28x22x12" - $299 * Mini III (3-way) - 19x12x10" - $100 * VI (3-way, six drivers) - 25x14x11" - $239 (discontinued by 1971) * Xa (3-way) - 25x14x11" - $199 * XI (2-way) - 23x12x11" - $80 * XII (3-way) - 25x14x11" - $139 Some of these early 3-way models featured 10" and 12"

woofer A woofer or bass speaker is a technical term for a loudspeaker driver designed to produce low frequency sounds, typically from 50 Hz up to 1000 Hz. The name is from the onomatopoeic English word for a dog's bark, " woof" (in contrast to th ...

s manufactured by Jensen ("Flex-Air") and CTS (

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), 5"

whizzer cone A full-range loudspeaker drive unit is defined as a driver which reproduces as much of the audible frequency range as possible, within the limitations imposed by the physical constraints of a specific design. The frequency range of these drive ...

squawkers manufactured by

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

Electronics of the Netherlands, and 2" and 2.5" cone

tweeter A tweeter or treble speaker is a special type of loudspeaker (usually dome, inverse dome or horn-type) that is designed to produce high audio frequencies, typically deliver high frequencies up to 100 kHz. The name is derived from the high ...

s by Peerless of Denmark. The Rectilinear speakers were typically, but not always, of

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design and finished in walnut with fabric or fretwork grilles. Many models featured one, or sometimes two, rear tone controls. The company offered some of their models as kits and "semi-kits". Later models (1971 - approx. 1977) include: * 2 * 4 * 4.5 * 5 * 7 (high output fuse version "MTH 4" also available) * 7A * IIIa * IIIb * X * XIa * XIb The company also produced a tilted speaker stand, the "Rectilinear Dispersion Base", intended to be used with the Model 5 speaker. Although the Rectilinear speakers were distributed through a nationwide network of up to 400 dealers, most of their sales was generated on the

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. Distributor in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

was H Roy Gray Ltd., 14 Laidlaw Blvd.,

Markham, Ontario Markham () is a city in the Regional Municipality of York, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately northeast of Downtown Toronto. In the 2021 Census, Markham had a population of 338,503, which ranked it the largest in York Region, fourth largest ...

. International and military sales were offered by Royal Sound Co., 409 North Main St.,

Freeport, New York Freeport is a village in the town of Hempstead, in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York state. The population was 43,713 at the 2010 census, making it the second largest village in New York by population. A settlemen ...

.Advertisement
with overseas and military distributor listed.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Database for Rectilinear literature

Photo database for Rectilinear loudspeakers

Known models and data
(work in progress)
Driver Interchangeability
Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States Loudspeaker manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in New York (state) Electronics companies established in 1966 Technology companies disestablished in 1978 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1978 1966 establishments in New York City 1982 disestablishments in New York (state) Defunct companies based in New York (state) American companies disestablished in 1978