Orb Audio Super Eight

By Jamie Lendino

The Orb Audio Super Eight ($399 direct) is a powerful subwoofer packed into a relatively small 12-inch cube. The company designed the Super Eight as a companion for its Mod1 satellite speakers and Orb Audio Booster stereo amplifier, which features a dedicated subwoofer out and a two-position crossover that's ideally suited to blending with the Super Eight. But the Super Eight should also have no problem working with any number of small monitors on the market, either in a 2.1 (stereo) or 5.1 (home theater) configuration, thanks to its own continually variable crossover. The best part: You get thunderous, punchy bass response that can shake a small or medium-sized room quite easily.

Design and Controls
The Super Eight isn't quite a 12-inch cube, to be precise. It actually measures 12 by 11.75 by 11.5 inches (HWD) and weighs 26 pounds. The circular fabric grille is held on with a series of strong magnets, which is a nice touch, so you won't accidentally break off a plastic post over time. Rather than using an inexpensive driver and a large enclosure, Orb Audio went with a small enclosure and a more powerful amplifier and robust speaker driver. This makes the Super Eight fairly easy to place in your room, as it isn't quite the eyesore it could have been.

The back panel is well organized, and includes all the controls you could ever need. There are volume and adjustable crossover knobs, the latter with a useful range of 40 to 160Hz and a reasonably steep 12dB/octave high-pass circuit. A phase switch lets you swap polarity 180 degrees, and the power switch includes an Auto setting to conserve electricity in addition to On and Off positions. It includes a full complement of gold-plated speaker cable binding posts, but you shouldn't need these unless your receiver or amplifier lacks a proper RCA subwoofer out.

I would have loved to see a remote control, which is a fairly luxurious feature for a subwoofer but makes it much easier to position and tune properly; fortunately, Orb Audio's manual helps with this somewhat arcane process.?Orb Audio manufactures the Super Eight right here in the U.S. The company promises a 30-day home trial and just $9 for shipping costs. That makes it easy to audition the Super Eight in your home. And trust us: You'll want to.

Performance and Conclusions
The Super Eight features a long-throw, 8-inch woofer made of a mixture of treated composite paper and high-density ABS plastic, along with a massive 30-ounce ferrite magnet. The 200-watt digital switching amplifier is built into the enclosure. Orb Audio rates the Super Eight at 28-180Hz, but without a plus-or-minus dB figure, that rating is essentially meaningless. Temperature protect circuitry ensures the sub won't ever overheat or damage itself. With a continuous maximum output rating of 107dB, and 111dB short peaks, the sub delivers plenty of punch in small- to medium-sized rooms.

With the Super Eight engaged as part of the Mod1 system, overall sound was exemplary. Using our standard test track for electronic bass response, The Knife's "Silent Shout," the Super Eight delivered an appropriately tight 808 kick drum with a serious tail after each hit, exactly as it should be. In Muse's "Uprising" and the band's more electronic-inspired "Undisclosed Desires," the powerful low end had plenty of punch, and I could still easily distinguish the electric bass guitar from the acoustic kick drum.

Should you need still more low-end, Orb Audio also sells the Uber Ten, which contains a 10-inch woofer and 300-watt amplifier, and is roughly an inch and a half larger on all sides. The Uber Ten is much more pricey at $699?almost twice what the Super Eight costs?but could be a reasonable choice for larger living rooms and family rooms. We didn't test the Uber Ten, but the Super Eight is an excellent performer nonetheless. Even at $399, our biggest issue is price; while the same-price Energy Take 5.1 Classic's subwoofer isn't quite as extended as the Super Eight, it still gets pretty loud and sounds sufficiently tight and detailed, and you get a package of five satellite speakers in the bargain. To duplicate that with five Mod1s, you'd have to spend another $529 for the Mod1 Quick Pack.

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