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Founded in 1958 in Los Angeles by Jack Wilson, Auratone was a byproduct of the post WW2 GI bill helping veterans start businesses. Part of the “Greatest Generation”, Jack was a veteran of the pacific theater in WW2, and when he returned home his interest in building loudspeakers began. In Auratone’s early days, Jack was building home audio speakers, though soon moved into the professional recording market.

In the early 1970s, realizing there was a need for smaller speakers and something that was accessible to everyone, Auratone launched the 5C. It soon became a hit with studio engineers who needed a reference check to how their mix would sound on consumer systems like TV and

radio. Hence Auratone’s slogan “Recording Monitors for the Real World.” The 5C had a unique flat mid range focus response that engineers loved. The lack of a  crossover created an error free playback speaker.

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In 1982 Michael Jackson’s Thriller album, the best selling album of all time, was mixed on the 5C’s with Quincy Jones and Bruce Swedien. Bruce said that “80 percent of the mix was done on the 5C’s” and that Quincy calls them the “truth speakers.” In the BBC documentary “How to Make Sound Sonic”, the Auratones were used to see if the mix “had the vibe” during the making of Thriller. Other legends such as Paul McCartney, ABBA, and the Beach Boys also used Auratones. This helped set Auratone’s legacy, and soon the 5C’s were found in virtually every major recording studio worldwide.

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In 2005 Jack Wilson passed away while still building speakers by hand in California. While other companies launched their own knockoff versions of the 5C, none were able to accurately match the Auratone sound. Inspired and still seeing the need for the 5C’s in the industry, Jack Wilson’s grandson, Alex Jacobsen, took over the helm at Auratone and launched the new 5C in 2014. Realizing the materials found in vintage models were crucial for the frequency response, Alex seeked out the paper cone material from original sources in the US to authentically recreate the Auratone sound.

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Today Auratone is located in Nashville and still family owned, and is one of the few remaining US made speaker companies. Legends continue to use both old and new Auratones to make hits. Songs by Taylor Swift, The Black Keys, Adele, Lady Gaga, U2, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay and more have been mixed on Auratones by engineers such as Tom Elmhirst, Michael Illbert, Jack Antonoff, and Laura Sisk. Tom Elimhirst, who has won 16 Grammy Awards, uses the new 5C’s at the iconic Electric Lady Studios in NYC, where as he puts it, “Auratone speakers have been central to my monitoring throughout my career and are indispensable to my mixing.” The impact Auratone has made on the recording industry the past 50 years is undeniable, and its significance continues today. Auratone’s induction in the NAMM TEC HOF in 2016 and a NAMM TEC Award in 2020 further solidifies this.

5C's Through The Years
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