Rectilinear III - Specs, Freq. Response and Original Price

Snade

Snade

humble AK member
I picked up a pair of these "highboys" at a garage sale and the owner gave me the original owners manual.

Here it is for all you highboy fans.

I think the suggested retail price (last page) was $299 per speaker back in 1970.

I know the "shipping weight" (74 lbs) listed has to be per speaker. I lifted one of these up (with no box) and it is well over 60 lbs per speaker.


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Cheers, Snade
 
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Snade, Thanks a bunch for posting that brochure - that is the first time I have seen it! It will go nicely with my Highboys once the mids and x-overs are back from rebuild.

Any thoughts on if the $299 MSRP is for the pair or per speaker would be appreciated.
 
Njord Noatun said:
Any thoughts on if the $299 MSRP is for the pair or per speaker would be appreciated.
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Njord, since the "shipping weight" number right above the price is clearly per speaker, I think the price of 299 is per speaker.

Not hard to believe when you think each speaker has 6 drivers and the cabinets have a lot of internal bracing that had to be expensive to manufacture.

I could be wrong, but I thought I read somewhere that they sold in stereo stores back in the day for about $500 per pair.
 
Price was $279 each in 1967/8 for Rect III.

They came with a 5 year warranty from date of purchase: "to be free of defective material and faulty workmanship...Rectilinear Research Corp, at its own option will repair this product a NO CHARGE FOR PARTS AND LABOR (original caps) if, in our opinion, the complaint is caused by defective parts or faulty workmanship."

One of the best buys you can get in a vintage speaker IMO.
 
Njord Noatun said:
Snade, Thanks a bunch for posting that brochure - that is the first time I have seen it! It will go nicely with my Highboys once the mids and x-overs are back from rebuild.

Any thoughts on if the $299 MSRP is for the pair or per speaker would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Orion, which I always take with a grain of salt, as it's notoriously riddled with mistakes, says....

III Lowboy: 1968-'73: MSRP $600/pr
IIIA Hiboy: 1978-'81: MSRP $560/pr
IIIB ??? : 1977-'82: MSRP $660/pr

I'm not sure if that clears up the issue, or muddies it further....
 
Saint Johnny said:
Orion, which I always take with a grain of salt, as it's notoriously riddled with mistakes, says....

III Lowboy: 1968-'73: MSRP $600/pr
IIIA Hiboy: 1978-'81: MSRP $560/pr
IIIB ??? : 1977-'82: MSRP $660/pr

I'm not sure if that clears up the issue, or muddies it further....
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I believe the prices are correct, but the years are wrong. I think Rectilinear, as a company, was gone by the early 80s. The IIIA they refer to began in 1967, and it had only one level control for the tweeters in the rear. The IIIB came out in the early 70s and had two controls, one for the tweeter and another for the midrange driver. The Lowboy stats appear to be correct. Of course, I could be wrong..........just ask my lovely wife. :D
 
Awesome info! I've been a big fan of Rectilinears for a while, but I've never seen the original manual.

I especially like those response curves, and they certainly confirm what I have long thought--that these speakers need a little help in the upper mids and highs. I've always kept the mid and treble pots almost all the way up on mine, and it makes for a very even response. To my ears, at least.

Btw, Joelongwood, i believe what you are calling the IIIA and IIIB are in fact the two versions of the regular old III (they redesigned the crossover and made a few other minor changes in the late 60's). The lowboy came out around the same time as the second version of the III, and AFAIK they both had two pots in the back, rather than the single pot in the earlier version.

The IIIA is in fact an entirely different beast, with newer (and cheaper) pioneer drivers, and a much cheezier looking cabinet. I would tend to think that the Orion dates and MSRP are accurate, since the IIIA was a later model, made to a cheaper price-point, in an effort to revive the ailing company and bring it back to its glory days. Didn't really work, though, since from what I've heard the IIIA was a vastly inferior speaker.

I have never heard of a IIIB. I saw a reference to it once on a website, but I thought it must've been a mistake, since I've never heard about it since. I guess I was wrong on that one. . .
 
Thanks for the info Snade. Rectilinear IIIs are great speakers with a small but loyal following here at AK. I'm glad I own a pair, the only speaker besides Bozaks that I play regularly.
 
This has been a great day, guys: First I get hold of the manual for my favorite speakers, then I find out the correct MSRP information for them.

Thanks, Snade:thmbsp:!
 
Snade said:
I picked up a pair of these "highboys" at a garage sale and the owner gave me the original owners manual. Here it is for all you highboy fans.
Click to expand...
I converted the images to a single-file PDF and uploaded the file to here for future reference.

Thanks, Snade, for great information.

PS! Great web site, Mark:thmbsp::thmbsp:!
 
Njord Noatun said:
I converted the images to a single-file PDF and uploaded the file to here for future reference.

Thanks, Snade, for great information.

PS! Great web site, Mark:thmbsp::thmbsp:!
Click to expand...

Thanks Njord.

These highboys do sound fantastic.

Listening to some jazz right now. Very nice.

Mark (aka Snade)
 
Snade said:
Thanks Njord.

These highboys do sound fantastic.

Listening to some jazz right now. Very nice.

Mark (aka Snade)
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Well, all this praise, and "high-boy" love has got to me. You guys have got me really wanting to hear how good these things are for myself. I'm going back to see if they're still there.
 
judgeschreber said:
Btw, Joelongwood, i believe what you are calling the IIIA and IIIB are in fact the two versions of the regular old III (they redesigned the crossover and made a few other minor changes in the late 60's). The lowboy came out around the same time as the second version of the III, and AFAIK they both had two pots in the back, rather than the single pot in the earlier version.

The IIIA is in fact an entirely different beast, with newer (and cheaper) pioneer drivers, and a much cheezier looking cabinet. I would tend to think that the Orion dates and MSRP are accurate, since the IIIA was a later model, made to a cheaper price-point, in an effort to revive the ailing company and bring it back to its glory days. Didn't really work, though, since from what I've heard the IIIA was a vastly inferior speaker.

I have never heard of a IIIB. I saw a reference to it once on a website, but I thought it must've been a mistake, since I've never heard about it since. I guess I was wrong on that one. . .
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Thanks for clearing that A-B designation stuff up...........Rectilinear's model numbers were always kind of weird. :D
 
Njord Noatun said:
How would you compare them to your Klipsch Chorus?

All the best,
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I'm interested to hear that comparison as well. My impression is that they are probably at opposite ends of the audio spectrum--lush, reserved, and full versus detailed, dynamic, and forward. However, I'd rather hear it from someone who has real-world experience with a side-by-side comparison. I love the III's, but the Klipsch Choruses and Fortes have always looked enticing to me, especially since they can be had for what seems like a pretty reasonable price (at least compared to the K-Horn/Belle/Cornwall line).
 
joelongwood said:
Thanks for clearing that A-B designation stuff up...........Rectilinear's model numbers were always kind of weird. :D
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No prob. It took me a lot of extensive research to figure out what little I do know about the line (including opening up the crossovers and drawing up schematics :D). The fact that Orion doesn't seem to have a listing for the plain old III Highboy also throws a curveball :scratch2:

If you ever see a pic of the IIIA, though, you'll definitely see what I mean. I've never heard one, but you can just tell by looking that they're not made with the same attention to quality. I think by that point the original designers had already moved on to bigger and better things by then (the legendary DQ-10, for one. . . )
 
judgeschreber said:
I'm interested to hear that comparison as well. My impression is that they are probably at opposite ends of the audio spectrum--lush, reserved, and full versus detailed, dynamic, and forward. However,
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Klipsch Chorus vs. Rectilinear III

Ok, I sold the Chorus about two months ago, but based on memory, yes, the Chorus have amazing detail, lack the deep low-end punch (nice tight low end) and vocals are a bit forward. A very impressive speaker, but not the speaker I used for everyday FM listening. The speaker I would setup to demo and impress my nephews as we listen to some Green Day at volume. Very efficient, I had them setup with a T Amp and they would shake the walls with under 5 watts.

The Rectilinear IIIs are more like my B&W DM14 speakers (late 70s). A rich, full range sound that is very balanced. Smooth, nice high-end, both speakers are excellent in offering exceptional midrange - female vocal, jazz music, the mids really are lush and nice. The Rec IIIs have a bigger low end compared to the B&Ws or the Klipsch. A bit too boomy, I may experiment getting them up a few inches on some type of stand. The Rec III create an impressive soundstage - bigger and better than the B&Ws. Note, the Rec IIIs and B&Ws sound much more impressive with a lot of power. I've got them connected to a Carver amp that puts out over 200 watts per. I expect the Rec IIIs could sound a bit muddy and unimpressive with an amp with under 100 watts per. With the right amp, these Rec IIIs really show their stuff.

Cheers, Snade
 
Snade said:
A rich, full range sound that is very balanced. Smooth, nice high-end, both speakers are excellent in offering exceptional midrange - female vocal, jazz music, the mids really are lush and nice. The Rec IIIs have a bigger low end compared to the B&Ws or the Klipsch. A bit too boomy, I may experiment getting them up a few inches on some type of stand.
Click to expand...

Seconded on the power needed to run these beasts - mine really opened up when I went from 110 to 165 wpc.

My speaker location is wood floor on top of crawl space, and I am concerned about boominess, as well. As the speakers are already some 34" tall, stands are out of the question for me as they will start blocking my windows. Is there a simple and discrete way of isolating the speakers from my floor (that is, even more discrete than hockey pucks and spikes)?
 
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