Orb Audio Knocks It Out Of The Home Theater Park
They say: “Small Speakers for Smart People”, and after a few weeks with a system from Orb Audio, we have to agree. Truly Obscure has tested many other speaker systems, from portable iPod docks to miniature replica jukeboxes. We’ve even tested some audiophile-quality headphones with head tracking. We haven’t reviewed many 5.1 surround sound systems aimed at home theater enthusiasts, as we simply hadn’t heard or seen any that impressed us at a reasonable price range. Sure, visits to CES and other trade shows have revealed some neat “home theater in a box” setups, but they often end up disappointing, cutting every corner to fit in the package. We were beginning to despair, until Orb Audio came along.
They even offer a nice page on the evils of HTIB, the home theater in a box, worth a read if you’re considering the purchase of one of those convenient-but-compromising systems. They mention the low resale values, the false promises of simplicity, lack of inputs, and passive amplification in subwoofers. All good points- plus the Orbs are made in the USA. Certainly, a decent receiver isn’t that expensive, and you can find speakers in a wide range to fit most any budget. Orb themselves offer a great degree of flexibility, by allowing you to combine their modular orbs in different configurations for each channel. In practice, of course, you’ll want to pair them across channels, but can choose from speakers with one, two, or four orbs to fit your budget.
We tried both single-orb rear channels and dual-orb front speakers, along with their Super Eight 200W subwoofer, in a configuration they call the People’s Choice. You’ll definitely notice a difference in audio between a single orb and two per channel, but primarily one of volume and depth. Going with a dual-orb center channel and using singles for the others is totally reasonable (the Mod1 Plus), or using all single-orbs as well (the Mod1). They suggest that smaller rooms (those 14 by 18 feet or smaller) should be fine with a Mod1, and offer an easy refund program should you choose to upgrade any of your speakers in the future. For those on an even tighter budget, they recommend finding and using a low-cost subwoofer first; if further cuts are necessary, using just a minimal two-speaker system since you can easily upgrade and add more Orbs later.
They offer a page on setup- we followed the basic diagram, though we found our rear channels to work better facing slightly at an angle, largely because of the room we were in. The only issue we had for setup was the speaker cable; it would have been nice to use banana plugs. After a reasonably quick installation, we hooked up to our receiver, a mid-range Denon, and ran some tests from a 5.1 audio toolkit for calibration and individual channel testing. The speakers ‘passed’ with flying colors, though some adjustments in speaker cable were necessary (make sure connections are firm!) We also tested a combination of sources, including Blu-ray movies, DVD audio, an iPhone dock, and cable television, both in 5.1 surround and stereo. We briefly checked their magnetic shielding (no problems), and also tested their volume capacity (without a decibel meter, we have no solid measurements, but we were able to reach 3/4 volume on our receiver without distortion before worrying about our neighbors and police). Suffice to say, if it’s loud you’re looking for, Orb will satisfy- they manage to put out a surprising amount of volume and clarity for the size, front-firing subwoofer included. Channel separation was excellent, and everyone in earshot was impressed at the movie-quality sound on some disks, especially those with action scenes and bassy explosions (e.g. Iron Man). In blind tests, they easily blew away two reference HTIB systems that, um, other people had, and also the PC systems we had handy. It wasn’t even a contest; we had to limit the Orbs to a single-orbed speaker+sub before anyone preferred anything else. In other words, a single Mod1 Orb in mono sounded better than other speaker systems in stereo.
We liked the variety of finishes available- white, black, and three metallics. Ours were a nice hand antiqued bronze, but steel and copper are also available. With a modern design, attractively circular, these won’t annoy the wife or girlfriend and are easily mountable on a ceiling or other out-of-the-way location. The included stands weren’t of particular note, and the subwoofer is still fairly big and unattractive (the curse of most good speaker systems). Overall, though, it’s hard to go wrong with the flexibility and value of Orb Audio. They offer a reasonable guarantee to encourage home trials (30 days, no questions), and offer free lifetime technical support, along with a limited 5-year warranty. Prices vary, but the 5.1 system as tested is around $1100 and the Mod1 comes in at $800, depending on finish. The subwoofer makes up a fair bit of the cost though, and you can get just two Mod1 satellite speakers for $240.
