littlecreature Posted May 27, 2008 Posted May 27, 2008 wanting to know has anyone got or heard these speakers that are advertised on this forum. seriously looking at them so some advice would be good.
blairis Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 (edited) I'd certainly be interested in hearing opinions as well. All the online reviews I've found are very positive and with the Aus $ so strong they're pretty damn appealing. Edited May 28, 2008 by blairis
austere Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 There is a dedicated Orb Audio thread over on the AVSforum.com website where you will get a lot of information. I have been doing a lot of research on these and ordered 5 of the Mod 1s in white for my family room. Current exchange rate and reasonable shipping on the sattelites makes them a good purchase. The overwhelming view on AVS forum appears to be that they are at least as good as the Anthony Gallo Nucleus/Micros but a bit behind the Tis. They are a lot cheaper however. So I auditioned the AGs in a few different places and overall I am impressed with them. I will use an existing Jamo subwoofer for now and look at getting something better locally later on. The forums left me with some reservations about reliability of the Orb Audio Super 8 woofer, and shipping costs renders the warranty virtually useless for Australian consumers. I have also purchased a set of Anthony Gallo wall plate mounts. They are a very neat solution as they screw over the junction box where my surround speaker wire terminates and they have a ball joint arrangement to allow direction adjustments. Bought them through Price USA for US$25 each plus shipping and 5% handling charge. Again about 1/3 of equivalent local price. Orb Audio do sell a mounting plate but it is a bit 'agricultural' for my tastes, and I ended up spending just a bit more for the AG mounts. Hope the above is of some assistance. Will let you know what I think of them once I have had them set up for a little while.
funkybits Posted May 30, 2008 Posted May 30, 2008 (edited) austere, I'd be most interested to hear how you go with the Orbs. The Aussie dollar does make them attractive indeed and I have a JBL Sub that I'm happy with so just need the Satellites. I'm tossing up between Kef Egg Speakers or the Orbs. I know it's not a fair comparo as the retail price of the Kefs is more than twice the price of the Orbs. Would love to know how much better the Kef's sound. I have read many good things about the Orbs on the net, however not being able to audition them and the fact they have no tweeter worries me. Cheers Edited May 30, 2008 by funkybits
michaelp2005 Posted May 30, 2008 Posted May 30, 2008 austere, I'd be most interested to hear how you go with the Orbs. The Aussie dollar does make them attractive indeed and I have a JBL Sub that I'm happy with so just need the Satellites.I'm tossing up between Kef Egg Speakers or the Orbs. I know it's not a fair comparo as the retail price of the Kefs is more than twice the price of the Orbs. Would love to know how much better the Kef's sound. I have read many good things about the Orbs on the net, however not being able to audition them and the fact they have no tweeter worries me. Cheers I was looking for some small speakers for the bedroom, and didn't want to spend a lot, but problem was didn't like a lot of the small boxy speakers. So I was looking at the orbs and also the Kef's. (also needed to be silver, WAF ) Just the other day I found the Kef 1005.2's on special at Eastwood Hi Fi for $599. So I bought them! Depending on your budget they also have the 2000 series on special etc. Michael
littlecreature Posted May 30, 2008 Author Posted May 30, 2008 austere, cheers for the heads up on the avsforum got some good reading over there. as with funkybits i look forward to what you have to say about them.
RodN Posted May 30, 2008 Posted May 30, 2008 One word of consideration. Sound - as with all things we know of - is limited by the laws of physics. So when considering speakers we must all make compromises in what we might like vs what physics can provide. Does anyone know of a musical instrument the size of a coffee cup that makes the sound of something the size of a cello, guitar, drum or trumbone? Thanks for the zen moment -
aj1819 Posted June 7, 2008 Posted June 7, 2008 I was looking for some small speakers for the bedroom, and didn't want to spend a lot, but problem was didn't like a lot of the small boxy speakers. So I was looking at the orbs and also the Kef's. (also needed to be silver, WAF ) Just the other day I found the Kef 1005.2's on special at Eastwood Hi Fi for $599. So I bought them! Depending on your budget they also have the 2000 series on special etc.Michael hi michael, what amp would you run with the Kefs? and are they pretty good just for stereo listening? cheers mate
michaelp2005 Posted June 7, 2008 Posted June 7, 2008 hi michael, what amp would you run with the Kefs?and are they pretty good just for stereo listening? cheers mate Hi AJ I'm still waiting for them to be delivered.....I think I missed them on Friday, now have to wait for Wed I've ordered a Yamaha 463 to run them. Bearing in mind my considerations are not usual in this case, ie it "had" to be silver, speakers and amp. I also don't need lots of power, as it's a bedroom and most often used late at night. As one of the other posters said, one reason I went with the Kef's was that they are two way. I was a touch concerned about a single driver in the orbs. I'll let you know how it sounds when I get it set up, hopefully this week. Michael
michaelp2005 Posted June 19, 2008 Posted June 19, 2008 Hi AJI'm still waiting for them to be delivered.....I think I missed them on Friday, now have to wait for Wed I've ordered a Yamaha 463 to run them. Bearing in mind my considerations are not usual in this case, ie it "had" to be silver, speakers and amp. I also don't need lots of power, as it's a bedroom and most often used late at night. As one of the other posters said, one reason I went with the Kef's was that they are two way. I was a touch concerned about a single driver in the orbs. I'll let you know how it sounds when I get it set up, hopefully this week. Michael Been using these for a few days now and so far so good. I'm very happy. The little eggs look great and sound great.....to me Tried using the auto setup on the 463, but that's a bit dodgy. Ended up adjusting manually. Still fiddling with the base a bit. All good on movies, but a bit noticeable on music. I haven't cranked these things up, as I mostly listen at night, but they seem to have plenty of headroom. Michael
blairis Posted July 12, 2008 Posted July 12, 2008 Hi all, Any other feedback on these speakers ? I'm considering the Orbs vs Kef 3005 and can't seem to find out which have the better sound. It works out that the Kef's would be a couple of hundred dearer, so don't want to pay more for speakers that might not sound any better (and are quite a bit larger). The Orbs are probably the better looking spearker. Cheers, Blair
iGBH Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 Got my Orbs delivered about two weeks ago now and have them hooked up to a Yammy 463. I ended up getting 4 Orbs and the Super 8 sub as i only really need it for stereo use. Have been very impressed with them so far. The sound has tightened up whilst running in and is very impressive for such a small speaker. Sub is very impressive too for its size. I listened to the KEF's instore and prefer the Orbs'. Plus i got them in hand polished silver so they look awesome!
simopimo Posted July 17, 2008 Posted July 17, 2008 Got my Orbs delivered about two weeks ago now and have them hooked up to a Yammy 463. I ended up getting 4 Orbs and the Super 8 sub as i only really need it for stereo use. Have been very impressed with them so far. The sound has tightened up whilst running in and is very impressive for such a small speaker. Sub is very impressive too for its size. I listened to the KEF's instore and prefer the Orbs'. Plus i got them in hand polished silver so they look awesome! Yeah I'm considering the Orbs right now too. Their customer service (via e-mail for me at this point) has been excellent. The reviews look good as well. Do you have the the double Orbs or the singles?
NYMikey Posted July 17, 2008 Posted July 17, 2008 I just arrived in Oz from the US - I've had the Orb people's choice system for the past year and a half or so. The speakers sound great IMO, but what really sets them apart is the sub. It really makes the system sound great. I had them paired up with a Pioneer VSX-1016, which had plenty of power to drive them loud. They're currently on a boat from new york, and should arrive in 8 weeks, but if anyone wants a Sydney area demo after that they'd be welcome! Another guy I work with picked up a set too, and was also very pleased. They're super stylish (I went for the aged copper), small in form factor (so the g/f likes them), and they sound great.
julianbuckley Posted July 17, 2008 Posted July 17, 2008 I ordered mine last Friday and they cleared Aussie customs Wednesday morning... hopefully they'll be in my hot little hands by this evening, and I can spend the weekend running them in Agree with what's been said before re: how helpful Orb Audio's customer service team is - second to none, in my (limited) experience.
simopimo Posted July 22, 2008 Posted July 22, 2008 I ordered mine last Friday and they cleared Aussie customs Wednesday morning... hopefully they'll be in my hot little hands by this evening, and I can spend the weekend running them in Agree with what's been said before re: how helpful Orb Audio's customer service team is - second to none, in my (limited) experience. So, what's the verdict? How do they sound?
austere Posted August 27, 2008 Posted August 27, 2008 (edited) A quick review of my Orb Audio installation. I had ordered and received the Orb satellite speakers (5 No) a couple of months ago but they sat in a box for ages because I was waiting for the wall mounts. I ordered a set of Anthony Gallo wall plate mounts from the USA but had a few glitches before finally receiving them. I have to say these mounts were really worth waiting for though as they are really neat in appearance and adjustable using a ball and socket arrangement, which you really need with these speakers. Much better looking than the ones offered by Orb Audio too. For the moment I am using a Jamo powered subwoofer which I think is 8". Anyhow I got everything installed on the weekend and connected to my Philips 5980k DVD player, Denon Amp (1800 model?) and Panasonic Viera 50" Plasma. I have a HDMI connection from DVD player to Plasma and a digital coaxial connection from DVD player to amp. I had a lot of trouble getting sound out from the DVD player to the amplifier though untill finally realising (after two days of research!) that buried in the setup menu for the DVD player is an option to turn the audio signal off on the HDMI connection. The digital coaxial audio signal will not work until this option is selected, as the DVD player will only send digital audio out through either HDMI or Digital coax, but not both at same time. Anyhow how does it sound? Well my family room is about 5m x 4m and is open to other areas of the house on two sides, soit is not ideal for surround sound acoustics. If you can imagine an 'L" shaped room made up of three equal sized squares, then the family room is the square in the middle of the 'L' shape. However these speakers sound really really good to my ears. It truly is amazing what these little speakers can put out in terms of volume, range and especially in clarity. They sound pretty good from all seating positions in the room, but there is a definite sweet spot where the sound really comes together which is to the front of where I usually sit. I am sure some further tweaking with the direction of speakers and volumes in setup of the amp will fix this. So far I have watched scenes from Tombraider (for action scenes) and Master and Commander (for atmosphere) and these speakers are incredible in their clarity. You tend to hear details and little noises (clinking of chains, squeaks etc) that were just not there before and this detail adds a real richness that is hard to explain. The separation of the sound channels and the surround effects is very effective, but this may have as much to do with the amplifier as the speakers. What is really noticeable to me is that you dont have to have the volume turned up really loud to get the level of immersion in the soundfield as with previous systems I have owned and listened to (previous systems included sony amp and sony speakers, sony amp and Canton speakers and Denon amp and Jamo Speakers (all sub sat systems)). My wife described it as less noise and more sound, and I can't really better that description as that is exactly the effect. In the future I might add a second orb satellite to the centre channel but that is about all I would consider changing. That said, the dialogue coming from the centre channel is incredibly crisp as it is, to the point where you can hear little speech imperfections such as lisps that again were not audible to me previously. Anyhow I am very very happy overall with this system which has come in at about $1,400. As always with sub sat systems it is a compromise between appearance and performance, but I am finally very happy with the compromise and hope for many years of happy listening with this system. Edited August 27, 2008 by austere
Guest taggs Posted May 21, 2009 Posted May 21, 2009 Thanks for the great review. I'm looking at getting some Orb speakers and just wanted to know if you had to pay the 15% customs tax or not? Apparently they slug you for goods over $1000. I'm probably only looking at the Classic One combo to start off with (2 Orbs and a Sub) and might expand to a 5.1 system at a later date. How critical is the centre speaker when listening to DVDs however? Will I still get a reasonable quality from the 2.1 set up? Thanks Steve A quick review of my Orb Audio installation. I had ordered and received the Orb satellite speakers (5 No) a couple of months ago but they sat in a box for ages because I was waiting for the wall mounts. I ordered a set of Anthony Gallo wall plate mounts from the USA but had a few glitches before finally receiving them. I have to say these mounts were really worth waiting for though as they are really neat in appearance and adjustable using a ball and socket arrangement, which you really need with these speakers. Much better looking than the ones offered by Orb Audio too. For the moment I am using a Jamo powered subwoofer which I think is 8".Anyhow I got everything installed on the weekend and connected to my Philips 5980k DVD player, Denon Amp (1800 model?) and Panasonic Viera 50" Plasma. I have a HDMI connection from DVD player to Plasma and a digital coaxial connection from DVD player to amp. I had a lot of trouble getting sound out from the DVD player to the amplifier though untill finally realising (after two days of research!) that buried in the setup menu for the DVD player is an option to turn the audio signal off on the HDMI connection. The digital coaxial audio signal will not work until this option is selected, as the DVD player will only send digital audio out through either HDMI or Digital coax, but not both at same time. Anyhow how does it sound? Well my family room is about 5m x 4m and is open to other areas of the house on two sides, soit is not ideal for surround sound acoustics. If you can imagine an 'L" shaped room made up of three equal sized squares, then the family room is the square in the middle of the 'L' shape. However these speakers sound really really good to my ears. It truly is amazing what these little speakers can put out in terms of volume, range and especially in clarity. They sound pretty good from all seating positions in the room, but there is a definite sweet spot where the sound really comes together which is to the front of where I usually sit. I am sure some further tweaking with the direction of speakers and volumes in setup of the amp will fix this. So far I have watched scenes from Tombraider (for action scenes) and Master and Commander (for atmosphere) and these speakers are incredible in their clarity. You tend to hear details and little noises (clinking of chains, squeaks etc) that were just not there before and this detail adds a real richness that is hard to explain. The separation of the sound channels and the surround effects is very effective, but this may have as much to do with the amplifier as the speakers. What is really noticeable to me is that you dont have to have the volume turned up really loud to get the level of immersion in the soundfield as with previous systems I have owned and listened to (previous systems included sony amp and sony speakers, sony amp and Canton speakers and Denon amp and Jamo Speakers (all sub sat systems)). My wife described it as less noise and more sound, and I can't really better that description as that is exactly the effect. In the future I might add a second orb satellite to the centre channel but that is about all I would consider changing. That said, the dialogue coming from the centre channel is incredibly crisp as it is, to the point where you can hear little speech imperfections such as lisps that again were not audible to me previously. Anyhow I am very very happy overall with this system which has come in at about $1,400. As always with sub sat systems it is a compromise between appearance and performance, but I am finally very happy with the compromise and hope for many years of happy listening with this system.
burtlefish Posted November 19, 2009 Posted November 19, 2009 I am selling my Orb Audio Classic 1 here if anyone is interested http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ORB-AUDIO-MOD1-2-1-...=item2303dafe71
clarkwansw Posted November 27, 2009 Posted November 27, 2009 I got a mod2 system, but without the subwoofer. mod2 + REL T2. The little orb speaker sounds great and can play really loud. Had it for 3 months, It sound much much better after "run-in". These speakers is good for music and movies, but I found it doesn't fit with my sub very well, I mean sound wise. It always sound too boom. Anyway, for the price, it is a winner.
Guest cricketboy1503563728 Posted January 27, 2010 Posted January 27, 2010 (edited) i just received 2 Mod2 copper speakers today. i've hooked them up to my onkyo amp and b&w sub. i use it as a stereo system mainly for music and a bit of tv. they sound very bright and full to me so far. i'm no expert when it comes to audio but i'm very happy with the purchase and the brilliant customer service. Edited January 27, 2010 by cricketboy1503563728
brevetee Posted May 2, 2010 Posted May 2, 2010 A quick review of my Orb Audio installation. I had ordered and received the Orb satellite speakers (5 No) a couple of months ago but they sat in a box for ages because I was waiting for the wall mounts. I ordered a set of Anthony Gallo wall plate mounts from the USA but had a few glitches before finally receiving them. I have to say these mounts were really worth waiting for though as they are really neat in appearance and adjustable using a ball and socket arrangement, which you really need with these speakers. Much better looking than the ones offered by Orb Audio too. For the moment I am using a Jamo powered subwoofer which I think is 8".Anyhow I got everything installed on the weekend and connected to my Philips 5980k DVD player, Denon Amp (1800 model?) and Panasonic Viera 50" Plasma. I have a HDMI connection from DVD player to Plasma and a digital coaxial connection from DVD player to amp. I had a lot of trouble getting sound out from the DVD player to the amplifier though untill finally realising (after two days of research!) that buried in the setup menu for the DVD player is an option to turn the audio signal off on the HDMI connection. The digital coaxial audio signal will not work until this option is selected, as the DVD player will only send digital audio out through either HDMI or Digital coax, but not both at same time. Anyhow how does it sound? Well my family room is about 5m x 4m and is open to other areas of the house on two sides, soit is not ideal for surround sound acoustics. If you can imagine an 'L" shaped room made up of three equal sized squares, then the family room is the square in the middle of the 'L' shape. However these speakers sound really really good to my ears. It truly is amazing what these little speakers can put out in terms of volume, range and especially in clarity. They sound pretty good from all seating positions in the room, but there is a definite sweet spot where the sound really comes together which is to the front of where I usually sit. I am sure some further tweaking with the direction of speakers and volumes in setup of the amp will fix this. So far I have watched scenes from Tombraider (for action scenes) and Master and Commander (for atmosphere) and these speakers are incredible in their clarity. You tend to hear details and little noises (clinking of chains, squeaks etc) that were just not there before and this detail adds a real richness that is hard to explain. The separation of the sound channels and the surround effects is very effective, but this may have as much to do with the amplifier as the speakers. What is really noticeable to me is that you dont have to have the volume turned up really loud to get the level of immersion in the soundfield as with previous systems I have owned and listened to (previous systems included sony amp and sony speakers, sony amp and Canton speakers and Denon amp and Jamo Speakers (all sub sat systems)). My wife described it as less noise and more sound, and I can't really better that description as that is exactly the effect. In the future I might add a second orb satellite to the centre channel but that is about all I would consider changing. That said, the dialogue coming from the centre channel is incredibly crisp as it is, to the point where you can hear little speech imperfections such as lisps that again were not audible to me previously. Anyhow I am very very happy overall with this system which has come in at about $1,400. As always with sub sat systems it is a compromise between appearance and performance, but I am finally very happy with the compromise and hope for many years of happy listening with this system. Hi Austere, Not sure if you're still using the forums but was just wondering which Anthony Gallo wall plates you purchased to mount your Orb speakers? Thanks.
Guest soccer1503561451 Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 I recently purchased the MOD 4 system with the 10 inch sub-woofer. All 5 of my mod4 speakers are wall mounted. I have them running off a Yamaha RXA3000 and I must say they sound exceptional. I purchased the speakers in white, my wife’s request really and they look great. My only disappointment is the 2 rear in wall speakers are hopeless in comparison but were ok in the old setup. I have them set at plus 4db over the other speakers and can still hardly here them over the 5 mod4 speakers. I am going to replace the 2 rear speakers with another 2 mod4 setup. After that it is another 10inch sub and 4 presence speakers maybe mod2. Anyway I don't post much but this is my honest opinion.
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