Orb Audio launches stylish and compact home theater systems


Orb Audio recently released home theater systems that fall firmly into the ‘lifestyle’ category in the sense that a stylish and especially compact design seem to be an important part of the formula. Staying true to the ‘Orb’ name these systems include spherical satellite speakers that are little bit bigger than a baseball. Due to the compact size of the satellites, measuring about 4 3/16 inches in diameter it should be ideal for those looking for good-sounding Home Theater speakers that should look right at home in any stylish home decor. At the heart of the Orb speaker systems are the spherical single driver Mod1 satellite speaker, all made from high carbon steel. According to Orb Audio these are handmade by metalwork artisans and hand-assembled in the company’s Sherman Oaks California production facility and are available in Metallic Black Gloss and Pearl White Gloss, both made with premium baked-on powder coatings. There’s also The Metallum Series, which basically is the same speaker but consists of three handmade metallic finishes: Hand-Polished Steel, Hand-Antiqued Copper and Hand-Antiqued Bronze. The Mod1 uses technologies like rare earth magnets, Santoprene, Nomex and CCAD voice coils to produce big, full sound from the smallest possible package, as Orb Audio indicated. ‘Using ultra-high quality parts, and using them conservatively, really allows us to push the limits of physics so that these little speakers have a lot of the characteristics of much bigger speakers,’ said Siegel. ‘My partner (co-founder and Chief Designer, Gary Pelled) really pulled the rabbit out of the hat on this one.’
Another unique feature of the Mod-speaker is that they’re well, modular, in the sense that Each Orb speaker in an audio system can actually be made from one, two or four individual Orbs (Mod1, Mod2 and Mod4.) Backing the speakers up is Orb’s line of Subwoofers, the 8′ 200 watt hybrid BASH amplified Super Eight or the 10′ Uber Ten with its 300 watt BASH hybrid amplifier.

‘We do things very differently than your typical consumer electronics company,’ said Pelled. ‘Almost every part that we can feasibly make in this country is made here. With most other companies, it’s all done overseas. With Orb, we are designing this stuff ourselves, putting it together ourselves, and supporting almost 100 artists and vendors in California and elsewhere in the U.S. When you export your production, not only do you lose quality control, but you lose the benefit of the discoveries and inventions that come with daily problem solving. On top of that, style and design are the first things to go in mass produced audio systems. By keeping it as local as possible, we can still pay attention to all of these things…we can use expertly finished steel instead of plastic or fake wood, for example. So, it’s not just about great sound, it’s also about how our speakers look in your room, and the level of attention we are able to pay to every speaker that goes out of our door. But we couldn’t do any of this, since it costs quite a bit more, if we did not have our direct business model cutting out the enormous markups that plague the audio industry. Our average customer saves over $1,000 in markups, and they receive a speaker system that is superior in many ways to the more expensive, mass produced systems. That is really the key to our success, and our speakers make us proud. We are so confident that people will love them, that we offer a 30-day home trial with a ‘no questions asked’ return policy. It is very easy to give Orb a try and people have embraced the idea from day one.’

We should soon be getting a sample of Orb Audio’s latest and greatest, consisting of their Super Eight or Uber Ten subwoofers with the Mod speakers. In the mean time be sure to check out Orb Audio’s website.

Written by Devin