We can finally declare things interesting in the Blast Audio Issue by looking at the Orb Audio Mod series product line.
Blast got to, well, blast, some tiny little Orb Mod2 and Mod4 setups, done by combining two or four of these baseball-sized speakers and pairing them with their Super 8 subwoofer.
We were quite satisfied with the setup of two speakers each for front left, front right and center and a single Orb for the rear left and right.
The system is completely modular, which is both a pro and a con. The good thing is that you can tear the system apart, pulling speakers to where you want them like a delicious 4-speaker center channel option. The bad thing is that it’s an utter pain in the ass to assemble the setup, and even harder to MacGyver the wiring, as you have to series-wire each speaker into the next.
There would have been a simple solution to this. The speakers use a simple, small binding post for plugging in speaker wire. Orb should have added a banana plug port at the top of the binding post or made the binding post longer with two holes so that you can completely fit the wires in the speaker. Wires popping out during use remained a concern for us, though it didn’t happen in our tests.
When you’re done pulling your hair out, the system sounds great. You really need to have the subwoofer for the whole experience, however. There is good bass definition with just the satellites, but there’s a clear improvement with the Super 8.
Under the hood, the Mod speaker has rare earth magnets paired with Santoprene, Nomex and CCAD voice coils that enable a good audio response.
The speakers also look great. They come in black gloss, pearl white gloss, polished steel, copper, and antique bronze. The subwoofer doesn’t match, however. It only comes in matte black with a gray grille.
You do get a big sound with these little speakers, and that’s always a positive. We’re seeing a ton of little speakers making a splash in home audio, but don’t confuse these with cheap bargain store specials. The setup we tested starts at about $1,000.
The speakers are only rated for about 110 watts, which is confusing and disappointing for such an expensive system.
If you’re really curious, you can get a starter package of two Mod speakers for $239, that are ready to plug into your home theater.
Technical specs on page 2.
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