Curbed Rectilinear - Now what ...

[drbiggles]

Happy Sunday everyone!

The Story: I was out and about yesterday, drove past a yard sale that was around the corner from my house. I thought I saw a pair of older speakers and decided to go have a look. Yup, a pair of old Rectilinear something or others. I'm not familiar with them and there was nothing anywhere to give me a clue. These were very trashed, much more than very trashed. They looked like they'd been through 3 pairs of 14 year old punks, and then some. Spray painted black (even the grill covers), blue glitter all over, white latex paint spilled over tops, particle board edges were broken and falling to pieces. I kept on walking and didn't give it a second thought, not even for 10 bux was I interested.
Fast forward to later that day, they'd been tossed to the curb after the sale. Okay, I'll bite. I drug them home with some enthusiasm. They smelled NASTY !!! Like some incense, air-freshener nasty and the blue glitter covered my hands, arms and jacket. I didn't even want them sitting in my home for any length of time nasty.
I pulled a speaker lead from my old Onkyo TX-20 and fired them up one at a time. The live! 1 sounded really nice and the other was missing some highs and/or mids somewheres. But they worked ...
I'm still unemployed, so buying parts to rebuild the crossovers is out for now. But I just can't toss them. Should I part them out? Hold on to them and save for a better day in the near future?
I spent maybe 20 minutes this morning with a propane torch, a scraper and then a vibrating sander cleaning up the top of the nastiest speaker. I got the latex paint off, the penny embedded in said latex paint, the black spray paint and all the dumb blue glitter. Sure, it's not great, but the wood isn't that bad either. A little touching up with 220, then some dark stain and I'll bet they'd be just fine for the most part. Cosmetically anyway. Later today I'll do a closer listen now that I have the grills off and see if any of the tweeters/mid is gone.

xo, Biggles

 

[ranch 22b]

Good save and nice work!

Best of luck with the rest of the restore.

 

[drbiggles]

Good save and nice work!

Best of luck with the rest of the restore.

Thank you and decided to go a bit further. That black spray paint bubbles up immediately with the torch, then sluffs right off with the finishing sander. Bam, just like that. The sides of the speaker are looking downright nice!

xo, Biggles

 

[BrocLuno]

I think they were an odd duck back in the day. I can't remember why this comes to mind, but it's a feeling in the back of my head from maybe the 1970's ... Don't remember how well they sounded, but have vague memories of a hot tub and the redwood trees and some tune-up

Paper tweets and ported. Big cabs - big bass. In think they got some decent press ... They might be a good project if they don't require too many parts.

Looks like the woofers have been replaced :scratch2: I'll bet they have been rode hard and put away wet But, if they have not been driven into clipping for long periods of time, maybe they are good to redo

I'd take them on if they were free to me, but I'm a sucker

 

[artbrewer]

Invest your time in them, I think you might have a diamond in the rough

 

[onwardjames]

Man, I just love stories like this.

For God's sake, hold onto them. When you're back on your feet, and those are recapped and stained and looking like a million bucks, you'll be very proud.

You should have seen my Epicure Model 20's.....cat piss, bacon grease, and cigarette smoke, with huge amounts of mold. Now they are my most satisfying pair of speakers.

 

[drbiggles]

Man, I just love stories like this.

For God's sake, hold onto them. When you're back on your feet, and those are recapped and stained and looking like a million bucks, you'll be very proud.

You should have seen my Epicure Model 20's.....cat piss, bacon grease, and cigarette smoke, with huge amounts of mold. Now they are my most satisfying pair of speakers.

The further I go through the nasties, the more I'm finding myself growing fond of them and will certainly keep them now. The LF drivers look to be original, from what I've seen on the web. No chance of rot, no foam on the surrounds. And I'm SURE they've been beaten within an inch of their lives, for sure.

The enclosures have some internal bracing too. About half way up there's some horizontal pieces in there.

In any case, I like the size of them and originally seemed to be finished well enough. I'm going to keep'em.

xo, Biggles

 

[Tom Brennan]

Many considered those excellent speakers in their time, serious; as I recall they used Peerless tweets, Philips mid and an EV (?) woofer.

 

[GoRNR]

I had a pair of Rectilinear III LowBoys for awhile. Your's look similar to High Boys I think. The driver complement may be a CTS or Jensen woofer, a Philips AD5060/8 or similar mid, two Peerless cone tweets and two Peerless super tweets. If the electrical details are similar-- and I suspect they are-- you may find one or more of the tweets are "open". Seems to be a frequent problem from being over-driven or improperly driven with too little power. On the Low Boys, the tweeters were connected in series in two circuits. I seem to recall that one tweet and one super tweet were series'd together. So if one goes out, you lose the second tweeter in that circuit. The tweeters do occasionally appear on that auction site. The woofers could have either a square or round magnet. Depends on the year of manufacture. If you get time and a little money, recapping the crossovers may improve the speakers too. I did like the sound-- it was a relaxed and somewhat laid-back sound. They don't cause listener fatique. I did not recap the Low Boys before I sold them, so new capacitors in the crossover might "liven" them up a bit if they seem a bit dull or too laid back. The bass was a bit boomy until I tilted them slightly and got the cabinet fronts off the floor a couple of inches. A bit of toe-in helped the HF. Just my experiences. Your cabinet work is looking stellar so far. :thmbsp: Enjoy.

 

[ScottTamale]

you fixed them right up! I have a pair of rectilinear xii's and love them! some of the better mid range and bass i've heard, even from more expensive and well known stuff. mine have a cool old school looking orangish color grill on them. did u get the grills too?! well worth keeping brother, good hunting!:thmbsp:

 

[drbiggles]

Thank you all for juicy information! I hooked them back up a little while ago and the mid-range drivers are gone in both the speakers. Oddly enough, all 8 of the tweeters all work, sound smooth, and the woofers are fine as well.
I did get the grills, even came with the original badges. But the cloth is FUNKY, smelly, sprayed with black paint and covered in blue glitter. Kinda orangey brown in color. Easy enough to deal with in the future.
The mids will have to be dealt with though, cheaper the better. It was nice to have something new to play with though! Yeah!

xo, Biggles

 

[GD70]

From a pig with lipstick to a beautiful princess!
Nice work!

 

[drbiggles]

From a pig with lipstick to a beautiful princess!
Nice work!

Here's 2 shots of the grill covers, one can kinda get a glimpse of the blue glitter and what they're supposed to look like.

The propane torch really helped out and made life substantially easier. Just a kiss of the flame causes the paint to bubble and fail readily. Even the heavy latex paint on the top of the speaker came right up. Then a light sanding and it's all gone. The tricky part is going to be cleaning up the front bevel trim around the front of the speaker itself. Not going to go quite as quickly.

xo, Biggles

 

[drbiggles]

Here's a few shots of the guts, no crossover yet.

 

[Nat]

Can you post a couple of pictures of the backside of the midrange? I have a pair of Wimas(?) that came out of a Scott console which may be the driver you are looking for, but am by no means certain. Given your financial situation (which I may find myself in soon) and the fact that I have handthe drivers for over a decade without finding a real use for them, I'd be glad to donate the if they are the right ones.
It also occurs to me that you could reverse the grill cloth and be authentic without expense.

 

[drbiggles]

Can you post a couple of pictures of the backside of the midrange? I have a pair of Wimas(?) that came out of a Scott console which may be the driver you are looking for, but am by no means certain. Given your financial situation (which I may find myself in soon) and the fact that I have handthe drivers for over a decade without finding a real use for them, I'd be glad to donate the if they are the right ones.
It also occurs to me that you could reverse the grill cloth and be authentic without expense.

Thank you! If you take a look at my last gaggle of images, there's a nifty plastic cup over the back of the midrange. Not only is the speaker embedded in some kind of goo, but the plastic cup is included in that party.
I should have some time tomorrow, I'll set about attempting to free the cup/midrange driver.
As far as the grill cloth goes, not going to do it. It's so nasty, it needs to go. I'm going to make a template from the old ones, then toss.

xo, Biggles

 

[onwardjames]

What I did for my grills, which had enough lard to cook with in them, and enough cigarette tar to catch a nicotene buzz, was run a tub of warm water mixed with Dawn, and gently swished the grills around in it. Brown FUNK came out for quite awhile. I flung the excess water out, and let them dry. Took a few attempts, but they came out very close to mint. Best of luck. Love the work so far.

 

[drbiggles]

Hmm, yeah well I dug out the midrange this morning. It was embedded in some kind of silicone looking caulk is all, a utility knife made semi-quick work of that one. I yanked it and hooked it up, came right to life. Which means, there's something in the crossover or pots that's not working.

 

[ScottTamale]

yup, thats how rectilinear installed their drivers in the cabinets. the back of those grills look pretty nice! a gentleman on here talked about soaking them also. that worked well on an old pair of electro voice speakers I cleaned up. wash the tub out though or you might have to explain why you have glitter on you! ha ha just kidding, glad your mids are alright. keep us posted.

 

[drbiggles]

yup, thats how rectilinear installed their drivers in the cabinets. the back of those grills look pretty nice! a gentleman on here talked about soaking them also. that worked well on an old pair of electro voice speakers I cleaned up. wash the tub out though or you might have to explain why you have glitter on you! ha ha just kidding, glad your mids are alright. keep us posted.

I'm not convinced the black spray paint will come out with the soaking. Which is fine, I seem to remember a decent variety of vintage looking grill covers available these days. So, I'm not going to lose any sleep over that one.

xo, Biggles