i'm thinking really hard about getting the "people's choice" package. does anyone have an orb setup, and what do you think? how does it compare in quality and value to bose, klipsch, etc.? what receiver would be the best match, in terms of wattage per channel and value? i'm thinking about an onkyo. denon is too $$. i have a 42" 1080p panasonic plasma and a panasonic blu-ray. am i going to need an hdmi switch? lots of questions, i know.
I've had an Orb setup for 2 years and freaking love it. I've got a 7.1 configuration, with dual Orbs on the front and center, and singles for the surround and rear. I'm not using an Orb sub because I already had a good Hsu Research one, but I couldn't be happier with it, plus the wife like the looks of them better than larger, bulky speakers. I drive them with an Onkyo SR-705 which is rated on 7 channels at (I think) 150 watts, and is plenty of power to push the speakers. I recommend them very highly... As far as the switch, I would just run all of your components into the receiver and have a single HDMI connection between the receiver and the TV. This means that you'd always have to have the receiver on when watching TV: if you don't want to do that and you've only got one HDMI input on the TV, you'll need a switch. The one that's branded under Monoprice gets pretty good reviews, and like all their stuff is a good price...
the specs on orb's website say that the speakers have a range of up to 110 watts per channel (they ask that you call them to discuss compatibility with high-wattage receivers). i like stuff that sounds good, but i can't tell you how it works. i'm guessing that you haven't had any issues. glad to hear that you like it!!
it's getting pretty picked over, so i didn't think this was worthy of a separate psa thread. i just bought a brand new denon avr-988 for $415 at the circuit city in temple (it's getting shut down). they still had several plasmas and a couple of other denon and onkyo receivers. all of their hdmi and component cables are 50% off.