Orb Speakers Official Thread

i'am just waiting for the delivery, i will have the onix a60mkii to compliment the bronze mini towers

what orb set up did you get...i have the mod2 in 5.1 and was thinking about going 7.1...I have had my speakers for about a month your gonna love them

Great idea to start an official Orb thread. I've had mine for about 2 years now and they are still one of my favorite electronics purchases ever.

I'am doing it simple. It will be a 2 channel mod 2 setup with a possible wall mount up grade or a boss stand,depending on the looks. What I'am really exited about is the amp(onix a60mki).I a lot of good write ups!
.

Just wanted to post a first partial day of listening report:

My Orb 5.1 Peoples Choice (3 Mod2s up front with 2 Mod1s in the rear plus the Super8 subwoofer) is now fully hooked up in my difficult 16x16 sunroom with lots of windows and tile floor acoustics, run by a new Yamaha HTR6090 receiver....

I don't know how traditional speakers would do in that room (but from lots of reading here and elsewhere confirmed to my satisfaction that not only would they be too large, but probably not do well at all), but the Orbs are delivering beautiful sound even on temporary stands (don't want to mount them until I'm sure about placement positions).

The people at Orb were great with fast shipments, and a member here with six mint-condition used Orbs saved me a few bucks, too.

The Yamaha HTR6090 arrived quickly from J&R and has been relatively easy to get to understand. I got the Comcast Motorola DCT3416 hdmi dvr box this morning, and have all of my stuff (including the cheap but good with a simple fix for region free + upconverting Philips DVP5960 dvd player and Vizio L32 32" lcd) hooked with hdmi cables.

Having never equipped my HDTVs with external speakers or receiver, I am in every way a Noob, so don't judge what to do for you based on my novice ears. However, given Orb's 30 day return policy and the special pricing for the feature-packed 6090 I got at J&R that you might be able to get, what do you have to lose?

I should add that the sound that flows through the sliding glass door from the "back" of the sunroom to my large living room is wonderful! I have a large pool table in that room, and will likely add surround or zone 2 speakers in it to make the listening experience even better (whether with the sunroom speakers or separately) ... and yes, Orbs will be atop my shopping list.

Have had my Orbs for a few months now. Mod2 5.1 setup - I've heard that this may be a little overkill for my small 600 sq. ft apartment but they don't sound too loud for me. Volume range on my Denon receiver usually varies from -40 to -30 db. Speaker wires are Canare 4s8 16 AWG star quad wire so I can hook up each of the 4 discrete wires to a terminal. FL and FR speakers are bi-amped. They sound great, but they're my first 5.1 setup so I don't know how they compare to the other small space/big speakers out there.

My question for you all - what do you all set your crossover to? I've heard that 120 or 150 Hz is recommended. My Denon receiver after autosetup does 200 Hz for the FL, FR, C speakers and 150 Hz for the SL, SR speakers.

As long as you can't localize the sub, 200 works. If you like, you can bump it back to 150.

i have my crossover set at 150 and think it sounds best there...has anyone tried the mod quad yet...just wondering what that would sound like

I'm a big fan of these things myself but I think once you get passed a Mod 2 setup your defeating one of the nice things about Orb speakers and that's their form factor.

I did however hear 4 of these things running together as a CC and it sounded pretty darn good.

Remember though, when you go to a Mod 2, you are now looking at a 4 ohm load, so make sure your receiver/amp is OK with that.


How were they hooked up?

It's also a 4 Ohm load only down to 150 Hz or so, which is not at all hard to drive for most receivers. I think 4 of them would be hooked up in the same way as 2, which would give them a 2 Ohm load. Then I might want to more carefully consider the receiver. I'm sure my H/K AVR630 would be up to it. Other than that, the main preferable option to consider with the Orbs is having a receiver with a 120 Hz or 150 Hz crossover.

Yep same as the Mod 2's, the receiver was one of the Yammies. It did not appear to be having problems at all with the load.

Wow a quad set up? Sounds cool. Well I hooked up my mod 2's 2.1 speakers and Iam impressed. The super 8 sub is right on, but still working on some tweeking. My onix a60 mk2 integrated amp is also impressive minus the loose rca connectors. Yeah that's right a deffective product, probably caused by the holiday rush and ups superb handeling of boxs marked fragile. sorry, Iam just pissed and sure av123 will do the right thing. Other then my rants iam glad I went with the orb's. I think though I should raise the speakers about 6 inch's so it reaches ear level. Thanks all

Just received my Mod2 5.1 package, but no sub yet.. Should be here next week..

Have the front 3 speakers mounted, using my old 10" mk sub which obviously doesn't get high enough to cover the orbs competely, but I'm really happy with the clarity and imaging of them!

Will report back once I get the rear channels installed and the real sub in..

I'm driving them with a Pio vsx-82txs..

Cheers,
Brian

Hi, my name is Jerry. I just found this thread after posting questions all over the place for the past week. Hopefully someone can answer this based on their own experience instead of theory.

My room is 33'X20'. Vaulted ceiling is 11-14' tall. One wall is almost
complete windows. The other wall has a large cutout. I have all tile flooring. Is it realistic that I would be happy with the sound from the People's Choice package
with the Pioneer VSX-1016 or 816? Most people from other postings and Orb reviews say I need bigger speakers to fill the room and a bigger sub than 8". Wife will only allow tiny speakers. I do not have to fill the whole room with sound, just the "living room" space. Our 'living room" space is about half of the room dimensions (20'X17"). The other half is still wide open, no seperation. The rest is the kitchen. In other words, I can put the back speakers right behind our couch. Let me know what you think.

Circuit City Doesn't sell Orb Audio.

CC = center channel

woops...must be still drunk fom last night

You should be fine with the peoples choice. I would pefer though you partake in a little av soul searching and just go with the 5.1 speakers and sub, forget about the pioneer and go with the outlaw reciver.(recomended by vampyro).
http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/rr2150.html
You can always add a 7.1 with this baby down the road. Don't worry about the high ceilings, the bass will just carry around even better . I have a 2 channel with the orb sub in a 17x21 room 8 foot ceiling and its more then enough. Good luck
champ champ!

Thanks for your reply. Tell me if I am missing something, but the Outlaw receiver appears to be just a 2 channel. I am interested in a 5.1 system that can be turned into a 7.1. Outlaws 7 channel is out of my price range.

Spend some time in the receiver forum and your price range will magically change. On a more serious note, I've had the People's choice for less than a month, and am very happy so far. I made the mistake of spending time in the receiver forum, so I've got a Marantz 7001 running my orbs. It is a thing of beauty, but set me back a grand. The main downside of the Pioneer is that it doesn't upconvert video. If you don't need that, most folks like it fine. Others in the sub-500 range that folks like are the Onkyo 604 (674 if you want upconverting) and the Panasonic.
I would recommend asking lots of questions directly to Orb. Ethan was very patient with me, answering every question I sent, many of which involved other components. Their customer service alone gets them lots of points in my book.
Bryan

I currently have a 7.1 system running from the Panasonic XR55, with Mod2's front and Mod1's for the side and rear. My only problem is with the center channel which is mounted on their side by side stainless stand...it sounds a little thin and tin-canny to me. I can't fit the vertical Mod2 in that space in the bookcase, but I know that I need to try the CC in the vertical orientation before I decide to try a different CC. I am considering replacing the Mod2 CC with an Aperion 532 which should give a little more depth to the center, and moving the two orbs to the side channels making them Mod2's. ANybody think I'm crazy?

Let me also say that in my opinion, customer service at Orb cannot be improved upon...those guys are absolutely great, and their product quality is excellent.

I just received a Panasonic XR55 for Christmas and am currently shopping for speakers so I am interested in your thoughts on Orbs. Are you using their sub in your system? I already own and NHT SWS1 sub that I plan on reusing with whatever speakers I end up purchasing. I am considering the Mod1 Quick Pack. I would use Mod1's for the left and right speakers and a Mod2 for the center in a 3.1 system. Eventually, I would upgrade to a 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 system buy purchasing more Mod1's. I like the built-in upgradeability of the Orbs, but I'm concerned that the crossover in the XR55 might not be high enough for them.

You should be fine if 120 Hz crossover is available on the XR55; and your current sub plays up to 120Hz. However, the Super8 is built for the Orbs and is probably going to be a better match.

I agree with your comment about the Super8 being a better match for the Orbs...How big is your room TRed? I have the Mod2's on all three fronts, and the difference that it makes in our room (24' X 16') is quite remarkable. My problems with the Mod2 CC could be because I don't have the crossover set correctly, but the Orbs want all the midrange frequencies out of the Sub that they can get, and the Super8 is well matched for that. I can tell a difference when the cabinet door is closed in front of the sub, it muffles the higher frequencies. Be cautioned...the Orbs require some break-in before you hear what they are really capable of. I played mine for two or three weeks for at least 3 or four hours a day, and they opened up remarkably during that time. I can't remember where the crossover is set on my XR55, I will look at that tonight, but I think that I have the Super8 set at 180...again I will look at that tonight and give you a shout.

The Orbs do a remarkable job of filling the giant void in our room...18 foot vaulted cieling....but the main reason that I have these and not the Aperion is for the Wife. Now that the cabinet is built and she can see how the fronts would look with little black boxes from Aperion, that becomes a distinct possibility, but the Mod2's in the back are the only ones that she wants to live with. Believe me when I say that I'm extra picky and I can criticize even the most expensive speakers, BUT I can also be relatively happy with just having things better than I ever did before...I would say that our current system is open to a little tweaking, but that it's really enjoyable just the way that it is.

because of the higher crossover, I have heard some say that it might be good to put the sub under the front of the screen, maybe under the center.

Anyone know if a typical receiver that's spec'd to drive an 8-Ohm impedance will have problems driving the mod-2 (4-Ohm load with two 8-Ohm speakers in parallel)?

Specifically, I am looking at the Sony STR-DA3200ES AVR which say "8-Ohm impedance" in the specification summary but indicates there is some menu setting for 4-Ohm.