Hi! Just got a set of 4 mint rectilinear research xii's. I'm super new to vintage gear, and I've spent hours reading on the forum. I'm excited to jump in!
This set was from an estate sale of the original owner. A quad system, the rest of the components were already gone by the time I got there. They smell a bit musty, but it seems to be disappearing with time.
The speakers sound great, the midrange and tweeter adjustments work, too. I'm going to clean up the outsides, probably clean the pots and attempt a recap. I'm thinking I'll recap 2 of them and see if they sound different.
Just need a receiver to test them with.
Wish me luck! Now only if I could figure out how to post pictures from my phone...
Welcome to AK. You have some fine speakers there. They are sure to sound great after cleaning and recapping.
I like my Rectilinear III Lowboys, but not everyone wants monster speakers. The R XII fits the bill for those who want speakers of a more manageable size.
What a find. My dad sold audio equipment in the 70's and 80's and had his pick of whatever he wanted to take home and he chose Rectilinear 3's (highboys) and rectilinear XII's stacked on top. I own a pair of XII's and they are fantastic. I run them solo on my vintage system. They are all I need. as RTally pointed out, they are a manageable size and put out plenty of sound. Especially the low end extension. They have 10" woofers but sound every bit as good as 12's. the only thing you are going to want to do with them is get them off of the floor. I use 36" tall speaker stands with them to bring the sound up to listening level and to separate the bass from the floor. Position them ten feet apart, sit back 6 feet from them and be prepared to fall in love with music all over again. They are rated at 10-40 watts so be sure not to over or under power them. Overpowering will blow the woofers and underpowering will blow out the tweeters. I run a 55wpc Luxman to them and it does a fine job of sticking me to my arm chair during after-work jam sessions. Using them in a quad setup is overkill. There isn't that much quadraphonic content out there and the Rectilinear XII's image perfectly in stereo mode and sound like you're wearing headphones anyway so if I were you, I'd run a single pair in front and keep the second set as backups for when you go to recap. Those are two of the best speakers ever made IMHO. Good luck. And enjoy!
