The Auratone was built to simulate the typical television speaker of the time. It was made to sound crappy, because that's what consumers were listening to every day. The good thing for mixing engineers was that if you got your mix to sit well on Auratones, then the mix would sound great on everything else as well.
Through the years Auratones fell out of favor, not because of their sound but because they were no longer available. Jack Jacobson, designer of the 5Cs, passed away and the company abandoned operations as a result.
While many Auratone imitations have come and gone since, engineers still longed to purchase a new pair of the real thing or even replacement parts for old ones.
The good news is that the Auratone has been resurrected by Jack's grandson Alex, who's managed to recreate an 80s version of the 5C exactly the way it used to be. There's a single 4 1/2 inch paper cone driver inside a 6 1/2 inch sealed cube box. Unlike almost all monitors today that are self-powered, you need to supply your own amplifier for the 5Cs, just like in the old days.
Auratones are now available for $350 a pair. You can find more information at auratonesoundcubes.com. There's also a nice video below that tells the story of why they're so useful.
The 5C's are some of the most honest monitors available. It will make a bad mix sound bad, and a good mix sound good, and that's exactly what you want from a reference speaker.
