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Since 1958

Recording Monitors for the Real World

The original reference standard. Trusted by the engineers behind the most iconic records ever made. Family owned and made in the USA for over 60 years.

Auratone 5C Super Sound Cube

Magic in
the midrange.

Human hearing is most sensitive between 300 Hz and 5 kHz. That is where vocals sit, where guitars cut, where everything that matters lives in a mix.

One driver. No crossover phase issues. No port resonance. A direct, time-coherent window into the heart of your mix.

Philosophy

Hear the truth.

The 5C does not flatter. It reveals. A single full-range driver in a sealed enclosure, playing back what your mix actually sounds like — not what you want it to sound like.

For over six decades, the world's most discerning engineers have trusted this small, unassuming box to tell them the truth about their mixes actually sound like. No pretense. No enhancement. Just the truth.

Quincy Jones

"The Truth Speakers."

Quincy Jones — Producer, Composer, Legend
Studio session

"Auratone speakers have been central to my monitoring throughout my career and are indispensable to my mixing process."

Tom Elmhirst — 16× Grammy Winner, Adele, Lady Gaga, Beck
Products

The industry standard.

Passive Monitor
5C Super Sound Cube

The original. A single 4.5" full-range driver in a sealed acoustic-suspension enclosure. No crossover, no tweeter, no port. Just honest sound.

Auratone 5C Passive
$399 /pair
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Active Monitor
5C Active Super Sound Cube

The same 5C voice with a built-in 50W Bettermaker amplifier. Plug in. Listen. No external amp needed.

5C Active
$749 /pair
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Studio Amplifier
A2-30

Purpose-built companion for the passive 5C. 30W per channel. Balanced XLR. Nothing but a power path between you and the truth.

Auratone A2-30 Amplifier
Heritage
1958
Born in a Garage

WWII veteran Jack Wilson starts building speakers in his Chula Vista, California garage using surplus parts. The goal was simple: the most honest sound reproduction possible, at a price working musicians could afford.

Jack Wilson's garage workshop where Auratone began
Jack Wilson holding Auratone 5C speakers
1974
The 5C Arrives

The 5C Super Sound Cube becomes the secondary reference monitor of choice in recording studios worldwide. Its single full-range driver and sealed enclosure eliminate the phase distortion that plagued multi-driver designs.

1982
Thriller

Bruce Swedien mixes 80% of Michael Jackson's Thriller on Auratone 5Cs. It becomes the best-selling album of all time — and the 5C's legend is cemented forever. From that point forward, no major studio is complete without them.

Thriller recording session with Auratone 5Cs on the console
Alex Jacobsen surrounded by Auratone speakers in the workshop
2014
The Revival

Jack's grandson Alex Jacobsen relaunches Auratone from Nashville. The new 5C stays true to the original design — same enclosure geometry, same single full-range driver philosophy. Nothing is changed because nothing needed to be.

2021
David vs. Goliath

After a six-year legal battle, Auratone successfully defends its trademark against a multinational corporation attempting to dilute the brand. The family wins. The name stays protected. Read the story →

Auratone trademark case — Music Tribe / Behringer
Alex Jacobsen in the Nashville workshop beside a wall of 5C Super Sound Cubes, October 2021
Today
Still Family. Still True.

Three generations later, Auratone remains family-owned and made in Nashville. Still building the speaker that tells you what your mix actually sounds like. Used on records that have sold hundreds of millions of copies. Trusted then and now.

Trusted By

The engineers behind
the records you know.

"Approximately 80% of the mixing work on Thriller was done on the 5Cs."

Bruce Swedien
Engineer — Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones

"Auratone speakers have been central to my monitoring throughout my career and are indispensable to my mixing process."

Tom Elmhirst
16× Grammy Winner — Adele, Lady Gaga, Beck

"The Truth Speakers."

Quincy Jones
Producer, Composer, Legend