Orb Audio makes small speakers and sells direct to the consumer similar to Aperion and many other speaker manufacturers. By cutting out middle men the company is able to sell speakers at a greatly reduced cost. The speakers are small in size measuring 4 3/16" W x 5" H x 4 7/8" D with stand and weigh 2.0625 pounds (.94 Kg).  They also come in a center channel orientation with the two spheres mounted side by side.
The speakers are made out of American carbon steel and hand made in the USA (California and Oregon).  The only exception is part of the subwoofer, which is made in Canada. The speakers come in 5 finishes (Metallic Black Gloss, Pearl White Gloss, Hand Polished Steel, Hand Antiqued Copper, and Hand Antiqued Bronze) so there will definitely be something that the aesthetics committee will approve. The fit and finish of the speakers is first rate!

Setup

Being small means that it is easy to find a spot for the speakers. The company sells wall mounts specifically designed to work with their speakers. The single unit speakers will work with any 1/4 inch threaded insert. The two unit speakers needed adapters to work with our mounts. Our recommendation is to buy the wall mounts from Orb. They are priced comparably to other wall mounts that you would buy at an electronics store.
The only setup issue we had, beyond needing adapters for the wall mounts, was that the speakers did not accept Banana Plugs. The speakers have a binding post that you push in to expose a small hole that you insert the stripped speaker wire into. Letting go of the post locks the speaker wire in place. The connection is secure but in our case it was a pain because we had to remove the banana plugs that we use for our regular speakers.
The subwoofer (Uber 10) was easy to connect. We connected it to the LFE line in from the receiver and were ready to go. The subwoofer has a Master Power Switch, Volume Control, Phase Control, and Crossover Control.

Performance

We ran the room calibration function of the Pioneer Elite VSX-94TXH and began to take a listen. Like the Audio Engine speakers we reviewed a few months ago, the manufacturer recommends breaking the speakers in before giving it a critical listen. But like the review of the Audio Engine, we couldn't wait. However, everything you read about the performance of Orb speakers was after we spent a week playing music, movies, and games via the Xbox 360 through them.
We were very pleased with the results. Dialog in movies was clear and precise but not as full as we would have liked. Special effects seemed identical to the Aperion Speakers we use. The subwoofer packed a punch. One test Ara likes doing is putting on the Dolby Blu-ray Demo Disc and playing the scene from "The Last Mimzy." For this demo the volume is turned up to an uncomfortable level to feel the subwoofer. The Uber 10 did a very good job with this sequence. We were continually impressed with how well the subwoofer performed.
The last test was to listen to Ode to Joy on the Immortal Beloved DVD. What we listen for are the triangles. While we could hear them with the Orb speakers, they weren't as pronounced as the Aperion reference speakers Ara has in his Media Room. But still a respectable job!

To test music we listened to Rock and classical from both CDs and mp3s. Music played on CDs sounded very good but again not as full as our reference speakers. The speakers can go loud too! But be careful, our receiver has a lot of power and we were able to distort the speakers. In actuality this really isn't a negative because in a small room the point where the speakers started to distort was too loud anyway. The Orbs really shine in a smaller room. Mp3s sounded identical regardless of speaker choice.

Other Odds and Ends

You can try Orb Speakers in your home for 30 days without risk. Because the only real way to make sure the speakers sound right for you is to hear them in your environment with your equipment. Orb warranties their speakers for 5 years and one year for the subwoofer. The Mod2 are rated at 4 ohms nominal, so will they work with a receiver that is rated at 8 ohms? According to Orb Audio they work with every received they have connected them to (no list was provided) and we can confirm that our 8 ohm receiver had no problem with the speakers.

Conclusion

Overall we were very impressed with the sound quality of these little speakers. For a normal sized family room, bed room or office, these speakers will do the job quite nicely. There is always a trade-off when considering form over function but with these speakers the trade off is very minimal. Orb has other systems starting at $800.

Posted by The HT Guys, October 1, 2008 9:09 AM