Orbitsound T12 Soundbar V2 review

Orbitsound’s T12 Soundbar V2 is a soundbar with a built-in iPod dock that’s designed to produce clear audio no matter where you’re standing, whether you’re watching movies or listening to music.

To do this, there are two distinct parts to the system. First, there’s a separate tall sub-woofer (460x230x230mm), which sits on the floor and produces non-directional bass from your audio. Secondly, the soundbar has two 2in speakers at either end, pushing sound out to the sides, rather than just forwards.

The overall effect is incredible. Standing to the side of the speakers produces clear audio and eliminates the need to stand in the ‘sweet spot’ in front of the speakers. In fact, you can see this in action, but turning off the side speakers using the switch on the rear and listening to the more muffled tone music takes when you’re not straight-on to the speakers. The side speakers are particularly good for parties, as you can easily fill a room with clear audio.

Standing to the side of the speakers the only thing you lose is a bit of stereo separation. This is to be expected, but move back in front of the soundbar and the left and right speakers inside are placed far enough apart that you get excellent stereo.

All of this is very clever, but it’s sound quality that really counts on a product like this. Fortunately, the T12 doesn’t disappoint and we were incredibly impressed with the audio we heard. A lot of systems with a large subwoofer rely too heavily on thumping bass to drown out any inadequacies with the stereo speakers. That is not the case here and the subwoofer is well balanced to the soundbar.