Rectilinear Research Corporation was a manufacturer of

loudspeaker A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or, more fully, a speaker system) is a combination of one or more speaker drivers, an enclosure, and electrical connections (possibly including a crossover network). The speaker driver is an ...

s. The company was formed around 1966 and its principal was Morris I. Wiener (alt. sp. "Weiner") of

Plandome Manor, New York Plandome Manor is a Village (New York), village in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. The majority of the village is considered part ...

. Arnold Schwartz, James Bongiorno, Marty Gersten, Jon Dahlquist, and Richard Shahinian were at different times and at different stages working with the company as engineers to develop speaker models. The first main office location for the company (1966–68) was at 30 Main Street,

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York. Some time around 1968, the company moved headquarters, manufacturing, assembly, and service center to 107 Bruckner Blvd (E 133rd St.) in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. The company remained at this address until it was shuttered in 1977–8. The company launched its first model, the Rectilinear III, in 1966.Advertisement
with

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endorsement. This model, received positive reviews by audio journalists, including ''

Stereo Review ''Sound & Vision'' was an American magazine, purchased by AVTech Media Ltd. (UK) in March 2018, covering home theater, audio, video and multimedia consumer products. Before 2000, it had been published for most of its history as ''Stereo Review' ...

'', ''

Popular Electronics ''Popular Electronics'' was an American magazine published by John August Media, LLC, and hosted at TechnicaCuriosa.com. The magazine was started by Ziff-Davis Publishing Company in October 1954 for electronics hobbyists and experimenters. It so ...

'', ''Buyer's Guide'' Magazine, and ''Stereo & Hi-Fi Times''. Three of the company's print advertisements were illustrated by the artist

Rick Meyerowitz Rick Meyerowitz (born November 29, 1943) is an American artist, and author. He is best known for his work for '' National Lampoon'' magazine and its spin-offs, including his posters for the comedy film ''Animal House''. Early life Meyerowitz w ...

and ran in publications such as ''

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'', '' National Lampoon'', and others in 1973 and 1974. Although formally this model always carried the name "III", it was colloquially often nicknamed the "Highboy" following the launch of the "III Lowboy" (around 1970) in order not to confuse the two models. Both the ''III "Highboy"'' and ''III Lowboy'' are pictured here. By 1971, Rectilinear had expanded its product range to include the following speaker models (MSRP prices per speaker): * III (3-way, six drivers) - 35x18x12" - $279 * III Lowboy (3-way, six drivers) - 28x22x12" - $299 * Mini III (3-way) - 19x12x10" - $100 * VI (3-way, six drivers) - 25x14x11" - $239 (discontinued by 1971) * Xa (3-way) - 25x14x11" - $199 * XI (2-way) - 23x12x11" - $80 * XII (3-way) - 25x14x11" - $139 Some of these early 3-way models featured 10" and 12"

woofer A woofer or bass speaker is a technical term for a loudspeaker driver designed to produce low frequency sounds, typically from 50 up to 200 Hz. The name is from the onomatopoeic English word for a dog's deep bark, " woof" (in contrast to a ' ...

s manufactured by Jensen ("Flex-Air") and CTS ( Chicago Telephone Supply), 5" whizzer cone squawkers manufactured by

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Electronics of the Netherlands, and 2" and 2.5" cone

tweeter A tweeter or treble speaker is a special type of loudspeaker (usually dome, inverse dome or horn-type) that is designed to produce high audio frequencies, typically from 2,000 to 20,000 Hertz, Hz. The name is derived from the high pitched sound ...

s by Peerless of Denmark. The Rectilinear speakers were typically, but not always, of

ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desig ...

design and finished in walnut with fabric or fretwork grilles. Many models featured one, or sometimes two, rear tone controls. The company offered some of their models as kits and "semi-kits". Later models (1971 - approx. 1977) include: * 2 * 4 * 4.5 * 5 * 7 (high output fuse version "MTH 4" also available) * 7A * IIIa * IIIb * X * XIa * XIb The company also produced a tilted speaker stand, the "Rectilinear Dispersion Base", intended to be used with the Model 5 speaker. Although the Rectilinear speakers were distributed through a nationwide network of up to 400 dealers, most of their sales was generated on the East Coast. Distributor in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

was H Roy Gray Ltd., 14 Laidlaw Blvd.,

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. International and military sales were offered by Royal Sound Co., 409 North Main St.,

Freeport, New York Freeport is a Political subdivisions of New York State#Village, village in the town of Hempstead, New York, Hempstead, in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island, in New York (state), ...

.Advertisement
with overseas and military distributor listed.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Database for Rectilinear literature

Photo database for Rectilinear loudspeakers

Known models and data
(work in progress)
Driver Interchangeability
Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States Loudspeaker manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in New York (state) Electronics companies established in 1966 Technology companies disestablished in 1978 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1978 1966 establishments in New York City 1982 disestablishments in New York (state) Defunct companies based in New York (state) American companies disestablished in 1978