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Help ID Mystery Speakers

onanysunday

onanysunday

chasing realism
Subscriber
Anyone know what these are, or if they're any good? They look interesting and appear to possibly have some potential as they appear to be heavy and solidly built with some depth to their cabs with two tweeters in an interesting driver arrangement. I can't tell what they are. Any ideas?

mystery speakers.jpg
 
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Hmm. CTS could be interesting.. I'd like to find out more as to who made all the drivers. I've been surprised on more than one occasion when picking up these types of non-descript 70's speakers on the cheap so long as they have some heft and depth to their cabs, without captive cables coming out the back and at least somewhat decent binding posts.

It looks to have a faded paper label on the back from the crummy photo, possibly a manufacturing label I cannot make out and not a homebrew speaker with that unique and interesting baffle design. The apparent lack (or loss) of badging would be a concern unless someone has seen them before and knows exactly what they are or who made them.
 
At this point, I am sort of just curious wth they are more than anything else. Judging from the photo, they appear to be at least some type of mid-fi+ attempt from what I can see as they appear at least a couple steps above something like an Omega or Atlantis. The cabs at least "appear" to be pretty solid.
 
I appreciate that the cones on the tweeters do not appear to be plastic with those fake aluminum domes. The mids look like other 70's mids I've enjoyed hearing before and the woofers remind me of something out a Rectilinear III Mini.
 
Yeah, looking to buy. Person who has them doesn't know anything about them. If I can find out what they are, I may pick them up and will let you know how they sound after a crossover recap.
 
onanysunday said:
Yeah, looking to buy. Person who has them doesn't know anything about them. If I can find out what they are, I may pick them up and will let you know how they sound after a crossover recap.
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See if the seller can get you clear pictures of that label and speaker terminals. That may help a lot.
 
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"Acoustalinear 880"

Minnesota-sold speakers (1976). Makes sense, considering I picked them up here in the Twin Cities. We not only have Magnepan, DLK, Misco, but "Acoustalinear" were sold here as well. Doing a bit more research, it appears they may have at least some drivers possibly built by "Becker" and could've been built in NY, which is also where Rectilinears were assembled.

They were a house speaker brand for 'Sound of Music' here in MN before they became Best Buy. Cabs are indeed quality, have some weight and depth as I suspected, and also have independent mid/tweeter pots on back with binding posts that accept banana plugs. Cabs are stuffed with insulation. I look forward to recapping their very basic two-cap crossovers with some polypropylenes after I refoam the 12" surrounds on the dry-rotted woofers and oil the cabinets which are in excellent shape.

I look forward to hearing what becomes of these after I'm finished with them. They sort of remind me of Rectilinear.
 

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Acoustalinear sure sounds alot like Rectilinear. They even share tweeter and midrange adjustments on back.. If they sound anything like my Rec. III Highboys, XII's, Mini III's or Micro III's, I will consider it a victory. I would say these are most comparable to my Rectilinear XII's, based of their near identically sized medium-to-large speaker cabinets.

I'd wager the 880's are designed to either go toe-to-toe with, or "one-up" the Rec. XII's as seen here.The 880's have more drivers and a beefier woofer, but I don't yet know if its drivers measure up to the quality and performance of the XII's.

Rectilinear_XII.jpg
 
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