Audio Arsenal

Orb Audio ‘Mod’ Speakers

• March 3rd, 2006

I have been doing research on super compact speaker systems for quite some time now. It basically started when my wife said we needed to get some smaller speakers for the house. The ones I had previously were Infinity Reference 2000.5 three ways (mini towers at 2.5′ in height). The Infinity speakers took up alot of space and are totally over powered for the small house we have now.

A friend of mine has the Anthony Gallo Nucleus Micros, and I have been keen on the for awhile now. Since I own a house now, price is more of an issue for me than it was in the past. So, I had to find an alternate to the Nucleus Micros.

I found another high end brand called Mirage, they had a compact system called the Nano, this was an intersting setup, as its an omnidirectional system. The speakers fire striaght up and then are deflected in a 360degree spread. Any spot in your home you are listening from you get the same audio fidelity. I listened to them and was pretty much sold. But…

I did have one more more research expedition to make, to Orb Audio in Sherman Oaks. I really wanted to listen to the Orb Audio speakers. I saw them online, and read some reviews in Wired Magazine, so I figured it was worth a shot.

Well, when I got to the demo showroom, it was a very very pleasant surprise. It turns out that the president/founder of Orb Audio, Gary Pelled, was co-founder of Anthony Gallo Acoustics, and THE man responsible for the innovative globe product design for the Nucleus Micros! Gary explained that after years of working at Gallo it was time for him to start his own company.

When I listened to his speakers, I was converted from the Mirage system immediately, the Orbs sounded as rich and saturated as the Gallo Micros, if not even more so! The best part, since Gary sells his product factory direct, its a major savings for a similar high end and deep sounding compact 5.1 system.

I ended up buying a 3.1+ System (4 Orb speakers plus the Super Eight Subwoofer) and it cost me around $700! Still def. not cheap, but compared to what a Gallo system would have cost, a steal!

The Orbs really are amazing in size and sound! YOu can set up a demo for yourself at the site (they have show rooms ins LA and NYC). Check them out!

View: Orb Audio site

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