Wow, and not WOW as in how they sound.....over-rated and out dated. I have owned several pairs and repaired even more since the early 70's. From an era when Sales people pushed for both commission and the contracts that had to be satisfied. Pure over-blown cheaply made with inferior components, that's the reality of the actual story behind these. The old Peerless tweets. Whizzer Mids? Accordian type woof? Give me a break, more urban legend from monkey suited sales guy hype late 60's to early 80's before Circuit City and Best Buy helped conspire in over-throwing American audio with the Japanese.

Picked the 'lowboy' set up for $140.00 CAD. Speakers are some how still in mint shape (built approx in 1971, and still going strong). (which shows the quality of the materials/product used). Nice and heavy - approx. 50lbs each. WIKIPEDIA has a page for these (check the links at the bottom - one of them is a pdf that shows the brands used for the drivers).

Really blown away by the sound.

It took a little moving around but I found after tilting them up to proper ear level (while sitting) the treble really improved. I also removed the grills (which seemed to help as well). I'm going to build some shelfs for them in the near future to lift them to the right level.

For the price I paid they're incredible.

If these pop up on craigslist definately check them out.

Bass, power, reasonable midrange, robust, good looking.

Highs are a bit grainy (but I've heard a lot worse), and take some work to get them to image properly.

I originally purchased the III's in 1969. At the time they were Class A rated, and considered expensive at $279/pair! These were designed by the legendary Richard Shahinian, later to found Shahinian Acoustics. They had a single tweeter level control. They had excellent bass, midrange and good highs. Their frequency response was one of the flattest and most extended for any speaker made back then - period. Because of their superior design and good sonics, by today's standard they still can play ball. Not bad for 40 years later. There are only a few manufacturers that can hold that claim.

In the early 70's Rectiliner added a midrange level control. Later yet they also introduced a revised IIIa version (redesigned by Jim Bongiorno) which raised the woofer/midrange crossover frequency from 250Hz to 500Hz to solve power handling/blown midrange problems. The woofer surround design and material was also changed. The original IIIs sounded better (cleaner, punchier, less bloated bass and an airier magical midrange) because the 12 inch woofer gets a little honky at 500Hz.
Anyway, I recently bought a pair of IIIs again for my secondary vintage audio system. Still impressive after all these years. A testament to these speakers is how many are still owned by the original legacy families that originally purchased them and handed them down to the next generation. Quality is everlasting! One last point - yes, you can get these speakers to image. They will go long and deep down the center, but it takes work. I used a room/speaker optimizer software program from RPG Diffusor Systems, which nailed it within inches, leaving only toe-in for the final manual tweaks. Vocals, drums, etc., are dead center, layered and float free of the speaker enclosures. Some of my audiophile friends are blown away with the resultant sound. Certainly you can buy better peakers these days, but the III's and IIIa's are still musical, powerful, robust and a fine piece of furniture too! At $200-400/pr, they are a bargain and evn good enough for a primary hi fi system if set up correctly and driven by a clean electronics chain. I recommend at least 75-100 wats/ch to hear their potential.

Similar Products Used:

Mac MA6200
Carver AVR100
Dual 606

Bass. Power-handling. Clarity. Great-looking as "furniture" (my wife likes them, an incredible rarity!!).

None, as far as I am concerned,except possibly replacement parts. I lost one of the emblems, which is probably imposible to replace now!

Bought new in 1973 - after a lot of research. These are great speakers!!! Even if the highs are less than perfect, my high-frequency sensori-neural hearing loss means my ears roll-off at 8k and 10k. But, I CAN hear the windows rattle and FEEL the bass. With my hearing problems, lesser systems sounded muddy, but the Rectilinear III's are crisp, clear and understandable - VERY satisfying!! I still have all the paperwork. "Below 500 and above 3000 Hz, the crossover network of the Rectilinear III rolls of the response of the midrange driver at the rate of 6 dB per octave... Two 2 1/2-inch (tweeters) cover the range from 3000 Hz up. The slightly larger tweeters contribute more to the response above 11,000 Hz. Thus there exists a virtual acoustic crossover at 11,000 Hz, even though all four drivers are connected in series-parallel."

Similar Products Used:

None.

Strength and depth of bass

a bit grainy in the high-end; vague and indefinite soundstage

I've had the Rectilinear 111s since 1973, having purchased a pair for $350 on clearance at the old Sound Warehouse in Brooklyn. I love these old guys and still use them in a secondary system. As other reviewers have said, the 111s can deliver quite remarkable bass; on symphonic CDs played through an old Lexicon CP-3 and Carver TFM-15CB, the richness and depth of sound is inspiring, but their highs, soundstage and air can't really compare with today's best speakers in the $2000 range. On well-recorded, 24 bit, jazz CDs, for example, even the bass can occasionally get muddy and sloppy, but that could be an effect of my heavily carpeted room. A few years ago, I purchased Maggie 2.7s for my main system and there is simply no equivalence in the overall coherence or clarity of sound. My high value and overall ratings reflect 30 years of wonderful listening for $350! If you're looking for vintage speakers, a still outstanding "symphonic music" speaker, or for some cheap deep bass minus a sub-woofer for a video system, grab 'em.

Similar Products Used:

Bose 701s; Magnepan 2.7

See the summary.

See the summary.

These are among the best of the speakers from the late 60's and early 70's. By today's standards they get congested at only moderate sound pressure levels and are a bit beamy, but for quiet music, listened to on-axis they're pretty darned good if still a bit grainy in the high midrange and above. Great low bass extension! It wouldn't be hard to better this (other than the very low bass) with a modern speaker system that retails for around $1800 per pair. Try the Revel M-20 for example.

Similar Products Used:

Dynaco A-25, AR-3a

Both speakers enjoyed the same sound heritage. Clean,neutral,uncoloured. The technical service dept. they had at Bruckner Boulevard was great! The tweeters were only cone drivers. As were the rest. May have been Philips drivers.I used these speakers for over 10 years,in a psuedo 4channel system as well.

Most people didnt believe they could be as good as they were because they had cone tweeters.

Rectilinear 111a,Rectilinear 12,Speakers.I used to a pair of each .the Rectilinear 111a was a 4way floor standing system. Its power handling was rated at 100 watts but had a rear mounted fuse 2.5 amp fast blo. The Rectilinear 12 was a 3way bookshelf system. It could handle about 40 - 50 watts. It utilized the same midrange and tweeter. Small amps could drive it to window rattling levels of clean sound.

Similar Products Used:

Was used with a Marantz 2300 receiver,Dual turntable,M400Carver amp,Hafler preamp.

Good Sounding

None

These are good sounding speakers. i have the low boy which are similar to the originals that came out in 1967, but they are lower and fatter. I do not know to much more about them, but I do know that they are very heavy since I had to carry them up a flight of stairs to there current location. I highly recomend these speakers to anyone who is looking to but a pair of vintage speakers.

Real walnut cabinet, neutral sound from 20 to beyond my hearing. Cool vintage look, sounds great mated to vintage equipment.

none

I got lucky and found a mint pair, taken care of religiously. The original owner even had the shipping boxes (monsterous triple cardboard) owners manual and warranty info. These speakers really sound great! It would cost you about a 2 grand today to come near the bass capability of these Rectilinears. The December, 1967 issue of HI FI/Stereo Review gave them a great report.They said that they were the best sounding speakers they have ever heard of any size or price. They got only 6% distortion at 20hz. !!! And from 37hz. to 15,000hz. they were +/- 3db. Not bad, even today. If you have vintage gear, ya gotta have vintage speakers. If you get a chance to find a pair of Rectinear III speakers, seriously think about it!

Similar Products Used:

Advent Large & Smaller. Ohm C2.

Very flat/neutral response, particularly in voice midrange. Extremely natural sounding. Bass is superb and fine depth of soundstage. Can play louder rock quite easily as well as softer classical.

Higher transients are slower than some new speakers, although still fine, need a strong power amp to drive them adequately. Also, not made for large rooms...better in mid-size to smaller rooms where they can fill them.

I highly recommend these to anyone as a system to train your ears, as the speakers are so incredibly neutral and natural. Also fo those who have decent power (these are low-efficiency and I am using a modified Dynaco 150 to drive them.) Mine have benefited greatly by placing them on cones to stabilize and focus the lower end.

Similar Products Used:

Kef 105.4 and Quad