Digital Home Thoughts: Orb Audio: Do These Small Speakers Measure Up?

Getting It All Set Up: Easier Than I Expected
When I review any sort of product, whether it's hardware or software, I always look at not only the final performance of the product, but also what it takes to get there. For Joe and Jane Average, setting up anything new can be an intimidating experience - there's a reason why the majority of people continue to use consumer electronics products until they stop working. As I unpacked each of the boxes, I photographed and took notes of the setup experience, and tried to put myself in the place of an average consumer - which isn't too far from the truth because I don't set up home theatre sound systems very often. The series of photos below explain the setup process and my experience doing so. I should point out right off the bat that my speaker set didn't come with any setup instructions, which I found rather odd. I emailed the guys at Orb Audio and they assured me that a normal customer order would get the full setup manual - and they pointed me to to their online PDFs that had the instructions I needed. I'm not normally much of an instructions guy, but I didn't want to wreck anything by assembling it incorrectly, so I followed along step by step.


Figure 3: On the left, my Harman Kardon sub-woofer; in the middle, the Orb Audio Uber Ten; on the right, the Orb Audio Super Eight. Size means nothing here - the Super Eight blew away the huge Harman Kardon sub-woofer in every way. It was downright embarrassing. More on that below.


Figure 4: A fist full of Orbs.


Figure 5: Setting up the HOSS speaker stands was quite straight-forward. All I needed was a flat-head screwdriver.


Figure 6: The HOSS speaker stands look utterly fantastic. They've got a simple design, but they just scream quality. In comparison, most home theatre stands scream "Made in China by the lowest bidder."

I figured I couldn't explain the HOSS stands better than Orb Audio could, so I'm going to let them explain their own product:

"HOSS (Hunk Of Solid Steel) floor stands are the ultimate complement to our Mod1 and Mod2 satellites. Seductively stylish, they are sure to look great in any room. HOSS stands are a stunning combination of stainless and carbon steel sourced from American mills. The base is a four inch diameter, three inch tall section of solid steel, while the satellite support poles and all of the bracket parts are pure hand polished stainless. The base is much smaller than stands with cheap, flat bases and can be placed in corners and other hard to reach spots. Each pair of stands contains nearly twenty-five pounds of steel, all of which is cut, polished and assembled by hand in the USA. The HOSS stand is a combined effort by numerous industrial metalworkers and a local artisan, and will surely make you ask how that small stainless steel lamp in your house cost nearly as much as these heavy, finely-made custom stands. Price is for a pair of stands. Shown above with Mod2 satellites in optional Polished Steel finish. Stands are designed to allow speaker wire to run up through the poles for the neatest possible appearance. HOSS stands are made in very small batches but are currently in stock and shipping."

My personal assessment? The Orb Audio description is spot-on: these speaker bases are extremely heavy, but extremely high quality and I love the industrial look of them. They're small enough to fit nicely in a corner, especially helpful if you've got a smaller room but want to maximize the stereo effect (which requires a certain amount of space between the left and right channels to get a proper "sweet spot" for the audio"). The down-side? The HOSS stands are $299 USD per pair, so for a setup like mine with four stands, you're looking at $600 just for the stands. That's rather expensive when you consider the whole speaker system is in the $1200 range. Still, you can't deny the quality of craftsmanship here - they look like piece of modern art more than speaker stands. It's important to mention here that Orb Audio has a lot of home-grown pride in their work - their Mod1 and Mod2 satellites are made in California. It really shows in the products.


Figure 7: Orb Audio speakers are a bit different than the typical home theatre speakers - most home theatre systems have one type of speaker for the centre channel (typically a more powerful speaker) and small/weaker right/left/rear channels. Orb treats all channels equally, and that makes a noticeable difference in the audio quality - especially from the rear channels.


Figure 8: Running the speaker cable on the inside of the HOSS speaker stands makes for a clean setup with minimal visible wires..


Figure 9: Screwing the speaker stands into the HOSS base was a fast process. Hmm - looks like I need to get those walls re-painted, doesn't it?