New Documentation from the New York Times
I have been looking for ways to get into the New York Times historical archives (one reason being that the powers at Wikipedia found my Rectilinear Research entry a bit too reliant on the company's own material, as opposed to "third party" material), and finally found a way of doing so through the Proquest service offered by our public library.
The first ad for a Rectilinear's product, the "III", is dated December, 1966, in which a company named Kitcraft HiFi (738 Washington Ave, Brooklyn ["Dynaco and Kit Experts"]) invites customers to bring their own records to listen to the III, describing it as a "no-compromise reproducer" , "hit of the the NY Hi-Fi Show", "an exceptional new audio product which honestly exceeds its manufacturer's specifications", and to "be one of the first to listen to a speaker that we feel is to become one of the greatest names in audio".
The search also yields a nice full-page ad for the Mini-III from 1969.
The search results are otherwise dominated by retailer ads from approx. 1968-1975, from stereo retailers in the New York area such as Sam Goody, Downtown Audio, Lafayette, Tech HiFi, Audio Exchange, and Atlantis Sound. Lafayette seemed to be the most prolific Rectilinear advertiser, with Rectilinear speakers routinely included in their "top of the line" package deals. The advertising volume is clearly higher in the first part of the '69-75 range, perhaps fore-shadowing the demise of Rectilinear Research in 1977-78.
As for Rectilinear Research's last days, a legal notice was placed in NYT in December, 1977, alerting readers that a public sale of the company's assets would take place on January 3rd at their headquarters at Bruckner Blvd, in Bronx. Another legal ad was placed on this date, announcing an Assignee's Sale at Rectilinear Research, "Manufacturer of Quality Speakers". Curiously, the auction was headlined as "Woodworking Plant": The ad lists in detail all the inventory being sold, which includes, as could be expected, drivers, finished product, electronic components, testing equipment, office furniture, and many woodworking and other tools. The auction also includes the sale of a 1976 Chevrolet Monza and a 1972 Alpha Romeo!
Finally, in April the same year, a legal notice announces the proposed sale of the Rectilinear Research's rights, title, interest, trade name, patents and copyrights to "WALL TO WALL SOUND, INC., for the sum of $11,000, subject to no other higher bids appearing by 4/30/1978.
All interesting reads for the historically curious of this brand, and all the documents referred to above have been uploaded to the database, accordingly. A few samples, only, are attached to this post.
There's a lot of good info there, I have spent hours looking over it all. Sometime soon I will get what ever pic's you want of my XII's. They sound amazing by the way!
