Orb Audio- Help

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Has anyone had any experience with an American (I think) speaker company called Orb Audio. Stumbled across the website and was taken by their looks and 'Reviews'. If they can be bought for the 500 pounds mark, and are of good enough quality, then I'm interested. If Andy X 2 or Clare seen these on their world wide travels and are able to give a personal opinion I'd be a very happy bunny

However, as no one talks about them here and I haven't seen a review of them in the 4-5 years I've been reading WHF, I am not too hopeful. If by chance someone has heard them, do they think an Onk 606 will be a suitable companion ?

 

[Anonymous]

The silence is deafening

 

[Anonymous]

BUMP

 

[Anonymous]

I installed seven of the double orb ones in my mothers beach house in California about two years ago. Was running from a Harmon Kardon AVR630 in 7.1 configuration using the Orb sub. They are much like the Anthony Gallo micros on which they are based, except there are two of them in the config I used. They are NOT like the Due though, the Due has the CDT tweeter and far better crossover which is a night and day difference in detail, but also in price

They're pretty nice speakers, good looking and very detailed for not that much money with their direct to factory approach to life. If you head over to another site and get some searching done these were all the rage about two years ago so there should be plenty of feedback there. This place hasn't been running that long so not sure you will get much info here.

All the best

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info there Liam. Was beginning to feel very lonely for a while there. Very helpful and gave me a lot to think about.

Wonder if its worth buying from here in the UK ? Will have a look at those other sites, I think

 

[Anonymous]

Also quite interesting in these, great price and looks good. Only trouble is obviously difficult to audition here in uk, so would be great if you can share if you bought them.

Cheers

 

[Anonymous]

thats my worry too - auditioning I mean. If anyone out there has any opinion on these then please let us know.

 

[Anonymous]

I'll be able to comment in the next couple of weeks as I ordered some today! took the plunge after much research... They will be hooked upto my new Onkyo 606 receiver once they arrive. Gone for Mod 2 system (5.1 setup) and ordered there super sub 8 too.

I'm shipping to Munich Germany where I am based right now after leaving the UK so going to be interesting with customs etc.

I was considering these in relation with Mission M-Cubes and Keff Eggs... Hope I've made a right choice? So far there customer service has been very very helpful and easy to deal with. Prompt email responses too... plus I still get my 30 day garentee / money back even being abroad in Germany.

I like to take a risk now and then... chuckle.

 

[Anonymous]

Look forward your review. I've calculated that a 'people's choice' would go for about £1000 including shipping and VAT to the UK. So my main question is if they are really worth that much considering the KEF 3005SE's are just as much? I do prefer the looks of the orbs though...

 

[Anonymous]

Yup it's going to be interesting as I spoke with the guys allot over the last week and tried to challenge them and compare them with the Mission M-Cubes and Kef 3005. Naturally they would be biased and there positive comments have to be taken with a pinch of salt imo. Orb audio guys believe they are way ahead of the Mission M-Cubes and certainly on par with the Keff 3005. So, I'll try to hold them to that. I have 30 day money back guarantee if I am disappointed and it will cost me £60 to £70 to return them, so not that risky.

I tracked down all the US reviews and some German ones and not one has particularly bad things to say about them. The reviews are all very positive and fantastic value for money. Most negative comments have been about the variety of colours and the fact the connectors at the rear cannot accommodate really heavy gauge expensive wire. To me these are both minor things for what I expect at that price.

I've gone for pearl white, flexible wall mounts, super 8 sub 220v, mod 2 all-round and included their cables to - cost incl shipping was $1640. Customs will be the next hurdle, but they do say they supply a "customs friendly receipt" which will be interesting to see what that actually means - chuckle.

The main thing I like is the design and discrete appearance and ability to blend in better to my particular living room / decor compared to the Keff's and Missions.

 

[Anonymous]

Quick update from me... the speakers are paid for and the items have been shipped. I've been given a tracking number for UPS and they should be somewhere over the atlantic right now. *Sits and waits in anticipation*

 

[Anonymous]

yippee! cleared german customs today... hopefully they will arrive at work tomorrow...

 

[Anonymous]

What's the verdict? And how customs friendly was their receipt?

 

[Anonymous]

Will have to wait until Monday (darn)... They are in a local post depo and will not be delivered until after the weekend. I hope the best things come to those who wait. Gonna have to find something else to do this weekend.

Sorry

James

 

[Anonymous]

Yippeeeeeeeeee - I finally have them!

Although not that smoothly received, as although the USPS tracking info said they were released from German customs they actually were not. A tad confusing! A little bit of phoning Deutsche post and German customs today located them 25 miles from me in one of there depos. Naturally, they needed some cash before they would be released. So I jumped in the car on the way home from work dropping by the customs depo. All straight forward and despite the so called "customs freindly invoice" the German customs were not fooled and they required me to produce a visa bill receipt. I thought this might happen and decided to just be honest and came prepared. They were happy and made me pay ?210 which was actually slightly less than I thought would be needed. All straight forward.

I'm now at home and having unpacked the sub and mounted the orbs to the wall. They are not wired up yet and will wait until tomorrow eveing to do that - ran out of time. I took pictures of the packaging which was VERY good, nothing damaged, well protected etc... The pearlescent Orbs (all 10 of them) look very nice and the build quility is superb from my initial observations. The sub also looks good and has various features / function on the back. I've read the detailed instructions and everything is clear and informative.

The ceiling wall mounts I ordered are fine, but a little flimsy to be honest. I think the solid 30 degree wall plates would have been a better choice. That said, to make some thicker DIY brackets would be very, very easy and I might do this long term. The BOSS (expensive) stands look rock solid, but I wanted a white finish, not brush alu / steel - so did not go for them.

With everything mounted in place they look great and do exactly what I had wanted aesthetically... Fingers crossed they sound good too???

I am genuinely happy with the quality, price, value for money so far... I will post up more over the weekend once I've hooked them upto my Onkyo 606 receiver etc and watched a decent Blue Ray DVD.

 

[Anonymous]

One other thing - ORB AUDIO customer service has been superb so far. They have responded to every email within 10mins of me sending it. Every time I phoned I got an answer 1st time and they refunded a small amount of money within 24hrs when I changed my order last minute. Very refreshing customer service so far...

 

[Anonymous]

Well after some fun installing the Orbs neatly & correctly... I finally tweaked the sub settings and cross over and used the auto setup from the Onkyo to sort everything else out... heh presto! Having found some of my favourite music and watched a couple of blue ray dvd's over the last couple of days... I have to say the sound is pretty impressive! Leaps and bounds ahead of what I had before (eg. Sony speakers). Basically everything feels tight / precise / detailed when played and the sub is more than powerful enough for my room / setup. I am super happy with the sound performance low, mid and high range. If I had a criticism, it would be at high volumes when things sound very slightly tiny and the sub takes over too much, but I don't spend much or if any pumping out the music at such high, high volumes and given the size of these speakers, I am actually quietly impressed. The sub also has a nice auto feature where it powers down when not being used after 15mins and switches back on as soon as it detects a signal again. I can recommend these speakers to others if you were the person looking for more discrete, small space saving, simplistic design orientated surround speakers. The only speakers I was able to compare them against during my research were the Kef 3005 which were setup in a local shop. Sadly that comparison is a bit weak as I could not ever listen to the Kef's and the Orbs back to back in the same environment. But my impressions are they are both on par and a definitely prefer the look / design of the Orbs over the Kef Eggs. Sadly I was never able to eventually hear the Mission M-Cubes as no one had them here in Munich.

So for now, I feel my money was well spent and worth the effort to get them...