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Ultralinear ??
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I had a pair of Ultralinear 200's years ago, they were a 12" 3 way affair with a volume control for the mids.
The grills looked like that used on JBL's with the checked foam.
That's where the similarity ended though, they were alright for the price but definitely not HiFi.
The grills looked like that used on JBL's with the checked foam.
That's where the similarity ended though, they were alright for the price but definitely not HiFi.
dshoaf
That high voltage buzz
These were private label speakers sold by dealers in the 70s and, perhaps, into the 80s. Private label meant that there was no advertising and, as a result, no product reviews. List prices were rather 'soft' since there was little to compare them to. Dealers would buy them to package into systems of a turntable, receiver and speakers since many consumers didn't want to take the time to compare each components and just wanted music in the house.
The selling margins were higher on private label speakers since the manufacturing costs were lower and so the packaged cost of the system could be made to appear lower than with brand-name speakers.
Other brand-name speaker manufacturers also got into the private label business. For instance, Bose made some excellent speakers under the Interaudio and a couple of other names. These used the same drivers as their 301, 501 and 601 series products but never saw the first review in the trade magazines.
Ultralinear did attempt once to break into the brand-name lines and even achieved a review with Stereo Review at one time. They generally attempted to mimic the JBL L100 look with the use of the 'monitor' word in many product names and with white woofers to look like a JBL Century/L100 knockoff but at far lower selling prices.
Yes, I sold a lot of Ultralinear speakers in my time on the selling floor back then. The cabinets were not well braced but the bass was solid and that's what sold them.
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
David
The selling margins were higher on private label speakers since the manufacturing costs were lower and so the packaged cost of the system could be made to appear lower than with brand-name speakers.
Other brand-name speaker manufacturers also got into the private label business. For instance, Bose made some excellent speakers under the Interaudio and a couple of other names. These used the same drivers as their 301, 501 and 601 series products but never saw the first review in the trade magazines.
Ultralinear did attempt once to break into the brand-name lines and even achieved a review with Stereo Review at one time. They generally attempted to mimic the JBL L100 look with the use of the 'monitor' word in many product names and with white woofers to look like a JBL Century/L100 knockoff but at far lower selling prices.
Yes, I sold a lot of Ultralinear speakers in my time on the selling floor back then. The cabinets were not well braced but the bass was solid and that's what sold them.
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
David
RamCharger
Rockn'Roll Truckdriver
Ah well, I just got a set (model 228) for $15 bucks at the local thrift store.....I guess they'll be good for the garage stereo.
Fast_Eddie
Upper-middle fi
Another "I just got them at Goodwill" bump. 200B. They looked cool and at $2.99 I figured what the heck. Haven't even hauled them in from the car yet.
Fast_Eddie
Upper-middle fi
Well, hooked up the one that has foam in tact to a Lepai T amp and audio from my Blackberry (left my stupid iPod at work). Actually, better than I expected after reading the couple of threads here that mention them. Bass isn't bad. Boomy? Yeah, a little, but not horrible. Wonder if there's anything in the cabinets. Some stuffing might help. Mids actually sound pretty all right to me. Surprisingly so. Tweeter is kinda nasty. Oddly, there's plenty of top end working. I assumed there would be some dried up caps that would keep them from doing much up top. I'm sure a decent cap would help. Can't imagine there's much of a crossover in there. They'd be fine for garage listening. It's pretty much all there. Certainly nothing to write home about, but at least they do have some bass. For what they are, they're all right. But what they are is cheap speakers.
Worth the $2.99 I paid.
Worth the $2.99 I paid.
Fast_Eddie
Upper-middle fi
Well, here you go!
http://www.trademarkia.com/ultralinear-73031652.html
Looks like, if you were so inclined, you could buy the brand and start your own legacy of mediocrity! As for my find, I'll probably play with them for a bit and curb them on CL. I don't think they're worth my time to really mess with. It would be interesting to brace the cabinets, or build something more suitable and try these for an E Wave, but I have better candidates in storage already.
http://www.trademarkia.com/ultralinear-73031652.html
Looks like, if you were so inclined, you could buy the brand and start your own legacy of mediocrity! As for my find, I'll probably play with them for a bit and curb them on CL. I don't think they're worth my time to really mess with. It would be interesting to brace the cabinets, or build something more suitable and try these for an E Wave, but I have better candidates in storage already.
Jedi
Super Member
I remember the brand name from my youth . I use to listen to KWFM hear in Tucson back in the day . Jerry's Audio Exchange was the place to get your gear at the time . I would go there and drool over the gear , even the Ultralinear stuff . I know they sold alot of these but I've never seen any at the thrift stores , flea markets , CL or yard sales . Nope....never seen one outside of Jerry's Audio .
goodolpg
Just an old fart trying to help.
Bought a pair in 1977, rather unremarkable as I don't recall much about them.
Saw a pair listed nearby on craigslist about 6 weeks ago, a couple weeks later relisted at a lower price (maybe $30/pair). Some of my past gear I have lusted after and purchased again.
Not those.
Saw a pair listed nearby on craigslist about 6 weeks ago, a couple weeks later relisted at a lower price (maybe $30/pair). Some of my past gear I have lusted after and purchased again.
Not those.
Copa1934
My ears are bleeding
Guess I have to chime in, yet again. Every brand has had it's good, bad and ugly. Thankfully my 225W speakers were anything but bad or ugly. I listened to everything from classical (pleasant experience compared to many systems prior), rock, contemporary, big band, etc. etc. Only let me down once, after a major party and they were turned up too high, by a guest of course. Drove them into L.A. at the plant they were made. Both woofers replaced due to loose caps and one midrange due to poor performance (no surprise). Cabinets refinished, all while I waited!
I can't speak for any of the other models, but mine were awesome, hooked up to my Kenny amp and tuner and Dual 1237 TT. Bought them cause they were the closest thing to the L100, that I could afford at the time.
As for advertising, don't understand that statement since advertising is what sparked my curiosity. Maybe the advertising was limited to certain markets as there was no lack of it in SoCal, of course they were made there. Also, part of my decision was based on reviews and auditions against other brands. So no reviews? In fact you can find reviews on ebay, reprints from HiFi magazines of the time, along with reprints of advertising from the time. I'd take the "Private label" with a grain of salt.
I wouldn't hesitate to own a pair again. Not sure how I'd like them today, but I'd give it a go just to see. Have to be another pair of 225's though.
Ok, reviving an oldie......I had a set of Ultralinear 500's (if I remember the number correctly) back in the 70's. They definitely had some strong bass, but I overdid it several times during the speaker warranty, and the last woofers they replaced, they did so with some really stout speakers that I could not blow....lol. But all in all the speakers had a good sound.
HiFi in WYO
The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest.
Reviving the dead.
Saw one - sadly only one - Ultralinear 100C today at the junk store. Decent condition. Not the best built cabinet, but overall a good looking speaker. Grill was good - and I was impressed by the stout frame. If they were a pair, I would have bought them. Oh well.
If anyone runs across them, they say they were made by Solar Audio Products of Los Angeles. The specs: 5-40 watts at 8 ohms., 31 Hz to 18,000 Hz, according to the label.
Saw one - sadly only one - Ultralinear 100C today at the junk store. Decent condition. Not the best built cabinet, but overall a good looking speaker. Grill was good - and I was impressed by the stout frame. If they were a pair, I would have bought them. Oh well.
If anyone runs across them, they say they were made by Solar Audio Products of Los Angeles. The specs: 5-40 watts at 8 ohms., 31 Hz to 18,000 Hz, according to the label.
Copa1934, I just finished re-foaming and re-capping my Ultralinear 225's purchased in 1977 when I was 17. Here's the long backstory: There was a speakers-only store in West L.A. in the '70s called "United Speaker Distributors" (USD). Anybody remember them? They sold "blemished-only factory seconds" with brand names scrubbed off or painted over, keeping the manufacturers unknown....or so they thought. For us kids we could get great audio and save a bundle. I had purchased a pair of 8" two ways as my very first speakers earlier that year, but after saving up I wanted to get another larger set for my own Hafler hookup quad set up. So after auditioning their "wall of speakers" in the store, these no-name 3-ways sounded the best....$89 each, grilles an extra $4.50.
I noticed the metal plate surrounding the crossover knob in the front had flat black paint sprayed all over. But what was beneath it? I scraped a corner and it revealed a metal surface, so I took some paint thinner and carefully wiped off all the black covering: It revealed the "Ultralinear" logo, along with "Speaker Protector" and MF Level printing. So now I knew that USD was getting seconds from Ultralinear's factory just 8-miles east in downtown L.A. Once I found out I then realized some of the other blacked-out speakers at USD were also Ultralinear models I was familiar with, and I confirmed the specs matched from their catalog. A friend who first told me about USD had a blacked out set of Ultralinear's 450 towers that I was able to match up. USD assigned each unbranded speaker their own model number: the 225's were known in the store as 6A's (see my photos in link). List price as pulled from "Stereo Review" was $189.95.
For the past 20 years I've had the 225's carefully stored in my garage as living space was limited, and I had purchased smaller speakers as part of a surround setup. After reconfiguring things I decided to bring them back as my fronts. But, the woofer surround foam had disintegrated, so I bought new surrounds and re-foamed. When doing shootouts with other speakers the midrange was sounding harsh and the tweeters weren't hitting the highs like I remembered. I pulled out the drivers; they use the Philips AD0162-T8 wide dispersion mylar tweeter. At this point I was on the fence if I would keep them or donate/sell if possible. But after learning about electrolytic capacitors drying out over time and losing quality I figured for just a few bucks I could update the capacitors to nice metal poly-films. What an improvement! No new drivers needed. So I now have them as part of my front L/R stacks, along with Polk towers and bookshelfs.
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62vauxhall
Addicted Member
A few years ago I was given a pair of Ultrinear (something) 5000. They were my first re-foam.
The brand rang a faint bell which was why I agreed to take them. Big time aligned cabinets. Could only fit one at a time on my car's back seat so made two trips.
They had elements of being cheap like borscht for instance cabinet construction and a reset switch for when they were over driven but other aspects seemed like they were trying to be a "serious" speaker. Like the fact that they were time alligned, had a large soft dome midrange plus a soft dome tweeter and a somewhat adjustable cabinet tuning via the bass reflex ports.
While they were in my possetion, I searched around online for any info.
The company, Solar (something) in LA did advertise Ultralinear Speakers and I actually found an ad for the very speakers I had which stated they were "two years in development".
I believe those particular Ultralinears were the most expensive model. I could see them being attractive to a 1970's consumer looking for big, loud, speakers for less money than more established brands would cost.
I never had any intention of keeping them, they were too frigging big but I had no trouble selling them.
The buyer was a shop owner that catered to a well off, newly arrived Chinese clientelle. He explained "the guys from Hong Kong just love big, old speakers".
The brand rang a faint bell which was why I agreed to take them. Big time aligned cabinets. Could only fit one at a time on my car's back seat so made two trips.
They had elements of being cheap like borscht for instance cabinet construction and a reset switch for when they were over driven but other aspects seemed like they were trying to be a "serious" speaker. Like the fact that they were time alligned, had a large soft dome midrange plus a soft dome tweeter and a somewhat adjustable cabinet tuning via the bass reflex ports.
While they were in my possetion, I searched around online for any info.
The company, Solar (something) in LA did advertise Ultralinear Speakers and I actually found an ad for the very speakers I had which stated they were "two years in development".
I believe those particular Ultralinears were the most expensive model. I could see them being attractive to a 1970's consumer looking for big, loud, speakers for less money than more established brands would cost.
I never had any intention of keeping them, they were too frigging big but I had no trouble selling them.
The buyer was a shop owner that catered to a well off, newly arrived Chinese clientelle. He explained "the guys from Hong Kong just love big, old speakers".
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pumablues
Active Member
Those last two comments were fantastic! I love the storytelling that goes with the speakers... really fantastic oral history, which is one of the many things that makes AK so awesome 
I found a set of Solar Ultralinear 225's on my local CL; the seller did his research, and the ad mentions that this is a sleeper brand, well regarded by some, but dismissed by others.
I found a set of Solar Ultralinear 225's on my local CL; the seller did his research, and the ad mentions that this is a sleeper brand, well regarded by some, but dismissed by others.
