Check our latest studio projects

AUGSPURGER MONITORS: BREATHTAKING POWER. UNMISTAKABLE CLARITY.

Dave Malekpour of Pro Audio Design built the first pair Augspurger monitors in 1998. As both a distributor of and design contributor to Dynaudio monitors, (PAD specified the best-selling BM15A), Malekpour formed the foundations of the company that would later take on the name, Augspurger.

SHOP AUGSPURGER NOW

Augspurger Technology

Today’s Augspurger monitors are unique in the industry on several fronts, beginning with the ability to tune the monitors to the room’s response, custom drivers, system management tools, custom beryllium high-frequency diaphragm, and ultra low-noise, ultra-low-distortion amplifiers with proprietary DSP.

What the Pros Say About Augspurger

"There are revelations in one's career that come unexpectedly. Discovering the magical balance of the Augspurger Duo 8 monitors has allowed me to work on so many different styles of music with a single speaker reference.”

~13-time Grammy winner Rafa Sardina

Shop Augspurger Now

Next-Gen Augspurger

Not just limited to technological advancements, next-gen Augspurger systems are designed to keep abreast of the ever-changing landscape of professional audio. With decreasing budgets and the increasing cost of real estate, as well as the advent of small facilities that don’t provide the option for wall mounting, Augspurger now offers self-powered free-standing mains in various sizes and for almost any budget.

Thanks to Augspurger’s TEC Award-nominated Duo 8 Mini-main monitor system, Duo 12, and 2017 TEC-nominated Solo 12MF, Expensive racks of heavy amps with external crossovers, or the need to build soffits into the wall, are now a thing of the past. Now the world’s best studio monitors are available to all.

Proprietary DSP Management

Never losing sight of the fact that speakers combine with the room they’re in to act as a single entity, Augspurger monitors are unique insofar as evolved into a range of fully active, DSP-driven smart monitors that can be tuned remotely or onsite by Dave Malekpour himself, who serves as Augspurger’s master tuning technician, personally tuning every Augspurger system sold.

After twenty years of tuning monitors in studios of all shapes and sizes to compensate for room characteristics and anomalies, Dave has derived a speaker response curve based on measurements taken in rooms used by top mixers including Young Guru, Rafa Sardina, and Dave Pensado, which serves as a baseline to ensure perfect room response.

Once the response curve of the speakers in your environment matches the baseline curve, it’s stored in the system memory.

The important distinction between Augspurger’s response curve and that of other monitors is that it is not intended to merely EQ a flat response. The goal is to create a reference response, that allows you to make tonal, balance, and mix-related decisions that will not only sound good in the studio but in all other playback systems and listening environments as well.

Thanks to their proper tonal balance, which is the foundation of accurate mix translation, Augspurger monitors are not only revealing, they’re exciting and inspiring to listen to—providing a solid creative foundation that allows you to produce music as you intend it to be heard.

SHOP AUGSPURGER NOW

Full Range Systems

Augspurger 2-way and 3-way systems are all full range, with a linear extension down to 20Hz, the key to a deep yet controlled bass. Rather than use subwoofers, which sound more like an effect (thunder) than an integral part of a speaker system, Augspurger bass drivers provide the solid and accurate low-frequency foundation of today’s bass-heavy music, which is recorded on systems that are linear down to 20Hz and below (as opposed to the 40-50Hz roll-off of analog consoles and tape.

Augspurger’s full-range systems reveal the LF energy curve more effectively than any other system, due to their ability to replicate the full frequency spectrum without any compromise or limitations. Rather than mix low-frequencies with your eyes, i.e. inaccurate DAW meters and spectrum analyzers, or relying on guesswork with monitors that incorporate psychoacoustically hyped bass, whose uneven low-frequency response can mask vocals and instruments in the midrange, Augspurger provides detail and clarity in the area of greatest energy in audio reproduction-bass.

Let's Talk About Augspurgers

If you're interested in outfitting your studio with Augspurger monitors, please drop us a note. We'll schedule you for a free consultation with one of our Augspurger experts.

Augspurger Custom Drivers

It’s said that if you aren’t designing and building your own drivers, you’re not in the speaker business, you’re actually in the shipping business by virtue of the fact that you’re merely putting a speaker inside a box—well Augspurger isn’t in the shipping business. Augspurger custom drivers stand apart from all others, particularly in the area of their high-sensitivity performance, which translates into greater output per watt. While typical monitor sensitivity is approximately 93dB, Augspurger drivers output 98-100dB per watt. That is to say, that at one meter, the typical Augspurger driver will output up to 100dB SPL with only one-watt input. The additional 5-7dB output results in more dynamic performance, as well as the ability to respond rapidly and powerfully to transients from the audio source. Extreme responsiveness, dynamic range are what typify Augspurger monitors, while at the same time distinguishing them from the rest of the flock.

Phase-linear midrange horn

Another singular feature of Augspurger speakers is the midrange horn, which is crossed over at 900Hz, such that all frequencies above emanate from the same source. This results in a very phase-linear response, which improves accuracy and clarity. It also makes your EQ a more powerful tool, as it enables you to EQ precisely what you’re hearing instead of an interaction with the room.

Unique beryllium high-frequency diaphragm

Another area of special attention in Augspurger speaker design is the high-frequency driver, which features a proprietary 4" beryllium diaphragm that is 99.98% pure. Of particular note is that the diaphragm is a formed unit which eliminates lossy suspension material entirely, enabling it to respond to transients unimpeded in any way. Being exceptionally strong and lightweight, with very fast energy dissipation, beryllium doesn’t ring on after being excited by transient attacks. Once it outputs a sound, it immediately stops resonating, which eliminates any smearing of transients and high-frequency ringing. The result is incredibly accurate and detailed spatialization.

Thanks to its optimal high-frequency response characteristics and remarkable durability, beryllium can shrug off extreme heat, which when coupled with a compression driver, provides an exceptional response. With the compression driver inside the horn, the device has a sensitivity of 110dB, which translates to 110dB SPL at one meter per one watt in. Due to the high-powered amplifiers in conjunction with the 110dB response from 900Hz up, there is virtually a limitless top end with no compression or change in system response. The high-sensitivity response of all the Augspurger drivers, including midrange and bass, increases the efficiency of the amplifiers in comparison to other drivers of less sensitivity.

Class D custom amplifier

In 2016, Malekpour acquired Digmoda amplifiers, incorporating their highly efficient, ultra low-noise/distortion Class D amplifiers into Augspurger systems. These amplifiers also feature customizable DSP which enables the speakers to be tuned to match the acoustic response of any environment (as mentioned in detail above). A primary focus of Augspurger monitor design, the super-low distortion characteristics of the amplifiers relieves ear fatigue, enabling long mixing sessions without crossing the Fletcher-Munson threshold.

To ensure high output across the entire frequency spectrum, Augspurger amplifiers output 1,000W RMS, 2,000W peak, with 250W available to the horn. For accurate transient reproduction and life-like dynamic response, these power curves are essential. Additionally, since distortion is virtually non-existent at 0.003%, the sound of the system remains consistent regardless of playback volume. In systems using MOSFET or Class A/B amps, it was necessary to turn the system up loud in order to get the proper bass response. However, with Augspurger systems, you can listen at near-field or lower levels and still have the same bass response you would have at a midfield level or high volume. What that means to a mix engineer working long hours is that you can save your hearing and still know how the bottom end of the mix will feel. In essence, with Augspurger monitors, you don’t need high volume to experience extreme detail and clarity or bass response. However, for those who like to crank it up, the earth-shaking high volume is there when it’s time to party. In fact, large Augspurger systems can produce 130-140dB SPL, while the smaller systems output 120-125dB (just below the threshold of pain).

Another advantage of Augspurger’s high-efficiency amplifiers is that you can listen at nominal level, getting all the information and accuracy you need without putting a strain on the drivers, which results in a longer lifespan.

What the pros are saying about Augspurger

You know you’re doing something right when your monitors enable multiple Grammy winners to up their game.

“I absolutely love and trust my Augspurgers. They make my mixes and my LIFE better!” —Grammy-winning mix engineer, Dave Pensado (Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera, Michael Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Pink)

“The next level of speaker design, nothing can prepare you for how big and clear these speakers sound” —Rik Simpson (Coldplay, Jay Z, Natalie Imbruglia, Portishead, PJ Harvey)

SHOP AUGSPURGER NOW

Augspurger: The birth of a legacy

In 1998, while still working under the name Pro Audio Design, pro audio systems consultant Dave Malekpour was contacted by Bobby Nathan, owner of Unique Recording Studios in Manhattan, where the Lord-Alge brothers began their stellar careers, and artists such as Madonna, Steve Winwood, Nine Inch Nails, Chaka Kahn, The Rolling Stones, Quincy Jones, and many more recorded. At the time, Nathan’s technologically advanced MIDI City became the spawning grounds of hip-hop and home to artists including, Run-D.M.C, 2Pac, Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, The Notorious B.I.G., and Kanye West. Nathan wanted monitors that could handle the extreme playback levels and bass extension desired by urban artists, while also providing an accurate and inspiring sound stage for producers and engineers.

Initially interested in Dynaudio for his studio, Nathan mentioned that he was blown away by a pair of Augspurger monitors he heard in an L.A. studio, but couldn’t find any further information or a distributor. Subsequent research led Dave to George Augspurger* himself, who sold Malekpour his designs. Impressed by the surprisingly open and articulate response of Augspurger’s original monitors, and already familiar with advanced speaker technology, Dave realized ways in which the sound and consistency of the monitors could be further improved. After a very labor-intensive journey of discovery, the first pair of Augspurger monitors were built and installed in Unique Recording studios in 1999.

Met with immediate acclaim by both artists, producers, and engineers, Right Track Recording contacted Dave within a few weeks asking for a system, followed by an order by Jay-Z for his Baseline studios (also designed by Pro Audio Design).

Since then, Malekpour and his team have built and installed hundreds of pairs of Augspurger-based monitors. They can be found in most of the top studios in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami, including Snoop Dogg’s Beach City Complex, Jungle City, Quad Studios, Hit Factory, Sony, MSR Recording, Blast Off recording, and many others.

*Designer of legendary studios in the ‘70s and ‘80s, George Augspurger, former technical director of JBL, was known for his custom monitors. While traditional approaches placed monitors after the control room was built, Augspurger's designs began with the monitors, building the studio to complement them, thus eliminating acoustic problems before the fact.

Augspurger company history

After a little more than a decade of building one-off custom monitors for the industry’s top recording studios, Dave Malekpour launched Augspurger Monitors** In 2011 to meet increasing demands. Primarily focused on studio reference main and mid-field monitors Augspurger introduced the Classic 15, Solo 15, and Duo 15. What started out as a labor of love, grew into a full-time passion for Malekpour, whose personal mission is to provide the most technologically advanced monitors that not only enable engineers to hear greater detail and mix more effectively but also empower artists to find their sound. And if you read the user comments below, You know you’re doing something right when your monitors enable multiple-Grammy winners to up their game.

**Augspurger of Hanover, MA is not affiliated with George Augspurger