Rectilinear XI Speakers — Lattice Grilles, Walnut, Recapped, USA

Rectilinear XI — An American Bookshelf Speaker from 1971, Oiled Walnut, Lattice Grilles, Crossovers Recapped

A pair of American-made bookshelf speakers from 1971 — oiled walnut, lattice fretwork grilles, a ten-inch woofer apiece, and freshly recapped crossovers.

Rectilinear Research

Rectilinear Research was a small New York outfit founded in 1966 that built its reputation on a single idea: that a loudspeaker’s job is to reproduce what it is given and add nothing of its own. The company chased that goal with custom drivers made to its own specification rather than catalogue parts, and it earned a serious following among listeners who wanted accuracy before excitement.

The Design

The XI is a two-way bass reflex design, and both of its drivers are worth knowing about. The woofer is Rectilinear’s own ten-inch W-11, a unit good enough that the company carried it across four models in the range. The tweeter is the RT-11 phenolic ring, and that one is specific to the XI alone — no other Rectilinear used it. The result is a wide, even response from 45 Hz to 17 kHz, and a speaker that stays composed rather than becoming shouty when you ask it for volume.

Easy to Drive

Efficiency is the other pleasure here. Rectilinear specified a minimum of ten watts, which means these will play properly on a modest vintage receiver rather than demanding a power amplifier to come alive. On the rear of each cabinet is a continuously variable tweeter level control marked at its normal setting, so the top end can be trimmed to the room and to your taste — genuinely useful in a bright space or against a bare wall.

Recapped Crossovers

The crossovers in this pair have been recapped. On a speaker of this age that is the difference between hearing what the designer intended and hearing what fifty-five year old capacitors have drifted into, and it is the single most worthwhile thing anyone can do for a vintage loudspeaker.

Condition

The cabinets are oiled walnut, solid and notably heavy for their size, and they have aged into the warm dark tone that only real veneer does. The grilles are the lattice fretwork that the era did so well — an open wooden grid rather than stretched cloth, and the thing that makes these unmistakable from across a room. They are the reason a speaker like this ends up on display rather than hidden behind the sofa. Tested here and working properly. Cosmetically the pair is graded Very Good — they present well, with only the standard signs of use.

A few relevant specifications:

A properly engineered American loudspeaker from the era when accuracy was the whole argument, brought back to specification and ready for another few decades.

Available for pickup in Kanata, or shipped across Canada and internationally — we have sent equipment to fifteen countries in the past year, each piece packed in-house in 275 lb test double-wall boxes. Live shipping rates for your address are calculated at checkout. Backed by Radique Audio’s Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty and our Perpetual Trade-Back Program. Available for audition by appointment in Kanata.

Rectilinear XI Specifications

• Two-way bass reflex design, sold and priced as a pair
• 10″ W-11 woofer; RT-11 phenolic ring tweeter
• Frequency response 45 Hz to 17 kHz, ±3 dB
• Nominal impedance 8 ohms
• Minimum recommended amplifier power 10 watts; 70 watts IHF music power handling
• Rear-mounted continuously variable tweeter level control
• Oiled walnut cabinets with lattice fretwork grilles
• Made in the United States
• Introduced in 1971
• Dimensions, each cabinet: (Height x Width x Depth) 23.0 x 12.0 x 10.5 inches (584 x 305 x 267 mm)
• Weight: 28.0 lbs each (12.7 kg)

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Backed by Radique Audio’s Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty and our Perpetual Trade-Back Program. When you’re ready to move on, we’ll take it back. That’s the Radique difference.

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