Palmer has released a three-way active monitor with a cardioid response and a frequency range extending to 28Hz, priced at £699 each.
The company is known for durable, utilitarian gear like DI boxes and monitor controllers. This new release is a coaxial active monitor with a cardioid response and bass extension down to 28Hz.
That is sufficient bass to make a studio throb without a sub-woofer. The product appears to have disrupted the market.
Monitors with a similar design—three-ways with bass radiators on the side to bolster low end—tend to cost more than the Orbit 11’s £1,400-per-pair price. Barefoot Sound’s Footprint 02 Gen 2, for example, costs over three-times more at £4,495.
Talk of this bargain three-way rocketed through various forums. Some commentators concluded it was all too good to be true. Others were apparently struggling to find fault and declaring the orange ring around the Orbit’s coaxial driver to be an aesthetic faux pas. There had to be something wrong with them at this price after all.
I just had to experience the Orbit 11s for myself. I have been using them as my main monitors for the past couple of months. I am blown away.
The low-down
The Orbit 11 is housed in a die-cast aluminium case that exudes sturdiness and reminds me of high-end Genelec monitors. On the front, there is a 1-inch tweeter mounted concentrically to a 6.5-inch mid driver. As well as being super-compact, this arrangement helps with phase coherence, making the monitor closer to a point source and therefore is ideal for immersive arrays. Bracket mounting is an option. Dual 8-inch woofers are mounted around the sides to facilitate the impressive bass capabilities.
I am immediately struck by the slender footprint of these large-sounding monitors in my relatively small studio space compared to other three-ways I have tested from HEDD and Adam Audio. The fact that they also have a near-cardioid response is also a big win, meaning they are less likely to suffer unwanted low-end build-up by being placed close to a wall.
On the back are analogue and AES digital inputs. With the AES option you can chain the two monitors to make cabling simpler, and then select the correct channel using the control panel on the top. Power switches are also around the back but are easy to locate, which is welcome because there is unfortunately no auto-standby option. This does not bother me really, since I just switch them off when I am not using them.
On the top of the monitors sits a digital control panel, with the first option being a sensitivity pad. There were various reports on forums of the Orbit 11s being excessively hissy at close range. This is true with the pad turned off—the default state when the Orbits are first turned on—but I find that setting horrendously loud for my set-up. I swiftly switch the pad to the maximum attenuation of 20 dB on each side and the self-noise is dramatically reduced, and I can still muster plenty of level from my RME interface. I am really irked by hissy monitors, so I am delighted to report that it is not really an issue here once the pad is set correctly. Yes, there is a little more self-noise than with my Genelec M040s when you have your ear pressed to them, but it is perfectly fine working in a near-field position.
Onboard digital processing gives you the option of various filters to tweak the sound, with multi-position, three-band EQ settings, plus Desk and Rear Wall filters that can be activated according to the monitor’s physical location. DSP is always on, so there is a permanent latency of four milliseconds. That means it is best to mute headphones when you are swapping back to playback on monitors, because the latency is perceivable. I do not encounter any additional lag when triggering software instruments with a USB MIDI keyboard.
The sound of Palmer’s Orbit 11
I plug in an IK Multimedia ARC Studio to apply ARC X room correction to EQ the monitors, since I have an issue with a low-mid bump with my monitors placed on a desk. Despite the cardioid response, I am also wary of the potential heft of the bass build-up in my room, so I am resigned to switching ARC on straight away. Once complete, ARC’s analysis reveals little need for any correction above 130 Hz or so, which is an impressive feat.
I am immediately struck by a large yet tight bass extension, plus an incredibly detailed and agile mid range. The mid articulation is a pleasant surprise as many three-ways lean towards a scooped mid voicing (for increased flattery rather than accuracy); I am reminded of high-end B&W mastering monitors here. Highs are also crisp and articulate, and I prefer leaving the room correction off from the high-mids upwards, as the Orbit 11 stock response is sweeter.
Doing a shoot-out with my Genelec monitors, there is nowhere near as much bass extension as the Orbit 11s, and mids on my own monitors sound a touch blurred and harsh in comparison, with the harsh timbre becoming more apparent at louder motoring levels. However, the Orbit’s twitters are slightly too crisp for my taste; I am a sucker for a ribbon tweeter and so select a warmer target curve in the ARC room correction.
At my friend’s studio we make a similar comparison with his mk1 pair of Mackie HR824s. The ‘824s appear to have a more thunderous bass than the Palmers with room correction switched off, yet with ARC X on, the Orbits reach further down than the Mackies, while also sound tight and controlled. Comparing the Orbits with an equally-large set of monitors helps to demonstrate the effectiveness of the cardioid response. The Mackies continue to excite the room modes even after room correction, resulting in a lingering bass sustain that gives a false impression that tricks the listener into hearing —and feeling—a far larger bass end than there actually is. Conversely, the Orbits remain articulate, without the bass lingering on. You hear subsonic details in the mix you never knew existed, and start to address them by either shaping them or else high-passing them into oblivion.
Comparing the mid range, there is a similar picture building to before – the Mackie mids are scooped, smoothed yet more brash in presentation. We are both left wondering whether we need to buy new monitors, such is the lasting impression left by the Palmers.
Should I buy Palmer Orbit 11s?
If you are looking for three-way monitors that reach the lowest octaves without need for a sub, or a large sound in virtually any size room, the Palmer Orbit 11s have you covered — all for a startlingly low asking price.
The tightness and depth of bass coupled with fast mid-driver articulation is far more than you could have previously hoped for at £699 per side, while a cardioid response means less hassle with unwelcome room modes in the bass end.
I hope we see Palmer’s Orbit range grow to include smaller models to sit alongside the 11s for immersive audio set-ups.
What it means
Users gain a compact, three-way system that delivers deep bass without a sub-woofer. The cardioid design reduces room mode issues when placed near walls. The onboard DSP allows for room correction, though this introduces a permanent 4ms latency. This latency is noticeable when switching between monitors and headphones, but does not affect MIDI triggering. The default sensitivity setting is very loud, so users must engage the 20dB pad to manage self-noise at close range.
