Small studio veteran rescue

[Bob Womack]

I happened to intercept a couple of carts on their way to the dumpster yesterday, and rescued a group of studio vets (some Auratone speakers) from "Mr. Crusher" once again. I've got them at home and am trying to decide on their next assignments. Here they are:

There are three 5C Supercubes and two black 5W Super Sound Wedges. Each has a history. The center speaker is probably the oldest of the lot. It has screw terminals and a serial number, of all things. Auratone Corp. only kept track of serial numbers for a short while in the '70s before they became a victim of their own popularity and began shipping hundreds of these $89 wonders without records.. Oddly, this speaker is also in the best shape of the Supercubes I rescued, probably because it went into storage first after being orphaned fairly early in its life.

The other two Supercubes are newer, as witnessed by their binding post connectors. They formed a pair that sat on top of a Neve 5024 console, my main work station for a good part of the '80s. You can see one of them in that position at the far left of the picture below. That's me at the console:

At some point these speakers came to grief by being dropped on their faces and losing their gold plastic surrounds that held in the foam grilles in place. They were replaced by newer ones that are still in use. Off to storage.

Lastly, we get to the two 5W Super Sound Wedges. These hold a really interesting place in my history. On my very first long-term Audio Post Production mixing job, I spent three months in an editing suite, sitting at an Auditronix 501 console that had these two speakers sitting on top of it. Because the editing suite had horrible main speakers, these speakers became my link to the outside world and reality.

So, I rescued five speakers, all working, all vets, and all old friends. I've discovered that these little guys are going for as much as $400 a pair on Ebay these days. Whacko!

Bob

[Doc Mark]

Hey, Bob,

That is a flat-out cool story, and what a neat rescue of your Old Friends!! Well done!! Thanks for sharing that with us, and know that you put a smile on my face, as I read of your rescue! Take care, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

[Bob Womack]

I rescued another 5C Super cube today. My wife gave me that, "I hope this isnt' becoming a habit," look when I walked in with it under my arm. She made a comment like, "Well at least these are small!" The nice thing is that it is the partner to oldest one I rescued before and is in equally good shape.

Bob

[Skywave-Rider]

Bob, you're doing the Smithsonian's work, preserving for future engineers.
I liked those better than NS10s.

[demon]

hey bob!

thanks for the info about this little speakers. ive seen them very often on pics, but never quite knew what they were.
and thanks for rescuing them.


do you think speakers like that could be built as DIY today?
would be very interesting!


cheers,
mikey

[Bob Womack]

hey bob!

thanks for the info about this little speakers. ive seen them very often on pics, but never quite knew what they were.
and thanks for rescuing them.


do you think speakers like that could be built as DIY today?
would be very interesting!


cheers,
mikey

Yeah, someone posted do-it-yourself designs somewhere on the 'net during the period when there was no replacement on the horizon. Then, of course, the Avantones and powered Avantones from Avant electroncis showed up.

An interesting facet of these little guys that is not well documented is that they can help prevent ear fatigue. How? If you are in a long recording session and have your basic EQs set, you can pop down and listen on the Auratones. Because of their limited bandwidth and the otherwise flatness of their response, you can hear really well at levels that don't tire your ears as badly as the larger monitors.

Bob