Auratone 5psc

Citation : Auratones

Text from James Pettingell. There is one possibly very important fullrange/wide range driver you may want to add to your list of drivers. The Auratone 5" as found in almost every recording studio. I don't believe they are made any more but they are fairly cheap to buy used and without any treatment (damar) appear NOT to have a large rise in response between 1.5 and 11k like the 40-1197/Fostex FE103. They have responded well to better cabinets, wire, damping of driver frame etc. and may not need a notch filter or Zobel for most people. I say include them so home audio people will become aware of what many of the recordings they listen to may have been checked on, Auratones may also be useful for home theater, extra speakers through out the house, etc.

The specs as listed in Audio annual equipment directory Oct 1983 are: 100-17k, 89db 1watt/meter, 3 watts min power, $90 pair for 5c sound cube. I have found at least two different drivers in the 5c,one is a square magnet with less cone excursion and the other is a round magnet (both ceramic). I believe the round magnet versions are the better of the two (more bass/treble).

They have they nick name "horrortones" but I think I know why. People think that just because these are cheap speakers you can hook them up to an amp pulled from a dumpster and use an undamped driver and cab. I have found the opposite, they are highly sensitive to wire, amps and any other things that may cause nasty sound in your system. Never the less they are still used today in recording studios because there is no weirdness from a tweeter, crossover, or ported box to screw up the sound. Not many drivers can be used without some sort of compensation, Auratones are among the few (although bass challenged).

Maybe someone out there may want to have these produced again with a cast frame, alnico magnet or round ceramic magnet with copper shorting rings or maybe just take some ideas from the design. Drivers this size are surprisingly cheaper to produce than larger sizes. If you find out any history about the company or the designer please email me or post the info on your site. I hope I have sparked some interest.