Michell Audio MICHELL ORBE SE
The Michell Orbe SE delivers deep, controlled bass, an open, articulate midrange and full-scale imaging with notably coherent musical flow. HiFi Choice applauds its dynamics, tonal realism and timing, while The Ear found its detail retrieval engrossing yet beautifully free of fatigue. Exceptional engineering makes this a serious long-term vinyl partner.
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Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
91/100
Build Quality
94/100
Features Usability
85/100
Value for Money
93/100
Pros
Powerful, well-defined bass combines with an open midrange, articulate vocals and realistic piano tone.
Fine dynamics, convincing timing and a large, realistic soundstage create an exceptionally coherent presentation.
Retrieves substantial detail without sacrificing musical flow or inducing listening fatigue.
Exceptionally well-engineered suspended design offers strong long-term ownership appeal and value.
Cons
The screw-down record clamp adds an extra step and slows everyday record changes.
Setup demands a properly level support, with limited adjustment range in the suspension.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 91/100
Reviewers find the Orbe SE exceptionally transparent, detailed and musically fluent, combining substantial bass with an open midrange, convincing voices and a broad, realistic image. Its timing is praised as coherent and assured, while the suspended design and capable Techno Arm support a refined, unfatiguing presentation.
Overall Sound
95/100
The Ear praises the Orbe SE for retrieving huge amounts of detail without interrupting musical flow or causing listening fatigue, describing an unusually realistic and revealing presentation. Hi-Fi Choice likewise heard fine dynamics, a full-scale soundstage, realistic piano tone, articulate voices and deep, well-defined bass.
Speed Stability
91/100
Hi-Fi Choice found the turntable highly coherent and right-sounding, with favourable comments on its timing. The review also notes that leading edges were not the most overtly emphasised, tempering an otherwise very positive verdict on rhythmic performance.
Tonearm Performance
88/100
The supplied Techno Arm is a substantially reworked Rega RB250 with silver litz wiring, upgraded connectors, cartridge clips and VTA adjustment. Its Tecnoweight is designed to improve tracking and permits precise incremental tracking-force adjustment, though the reviews offer limited direct listening commentary on the arm in isolation.
Noise Isolation
86/100
The Orbe SE uses a fully suspended arrangement, floating the platter and armboard on three springs above a cast-aluminium subchassis. Reviewers do not directly discuss rumble, motor noise, acoustic feedback or footfall behaviour, but the presentation is described as clean, composed and free from fatigue.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
94/100
The Ear calls the Orbe SE exceptionally well engineered and says it feels like a heavyweight piece of equipment, while noting the mature design has remained in production without needing fundamental revision. Hi-Fi Choice highlights the carefully executed suspended structure, with the armboard and platter supported by three springs above a cast-aluminium subchassis.
Features Usability
85/100
This is a focused high-end record player rather than a convenience-led design, but it includes the Gen 2 power supply and a well-specified Techno Arm. VTA adjustment and the Tecnoweight's fine tracking-force adjustment offer useful setup precision for owners willing to take a hands-on approach.
Value for Money
93/100
Although The Ear acknowledges that the purchase price may give some buyers pause, it concludes that the Orbe SE offers great value through its engineering, performance and long-term ownership appeal. Hi-Fi Choice also finds its broad appeal especially impressive against alternatives, supporting the case for its premium asking price.
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Specifications
- Weight
- 13.5kg
- Width
- 49cm
- Depth
- 37.5cm
- Height
- 15cm
Manufacturer's Description — Michell Audio
SMALL FOOTPRINT FLAGSHIP SYSTEM
The Michell Orbe SE delivers a reference quality listen identical to the Orbe but in a smaller package.
The Orbe SE is renowned for delivering a high-end, neutral experience.
With two layers of isolation, a 60mm thick vibration damping platter, a sophisticated, Never Connected™ power supply and motor configuration, the Orbe SE simply elevates music to extremely high levels.
Low contact area feet.
The solid aluminium feet of the turntable are shaped so the area in contact with the supporting surface is very small, this is done to minimise the transfer of vibrations from the supporting furniture into the turntable.
Three point spring suspension system.
Three suspension towers are fixed to the secondary acrylic base to hold the suspension springs in place and provide height adjustment for the sub chassis.
Weighted pendulum style sub chassis.
Hanging on the three suspension springs, this provides a rigid dense platform to mount the main bearing, platter and tonearm assembly, ensuring there is no movement between them, while also acting as a ‘resonance / vibration sink’ drawing away unwanted vibrations from the sensitive elements of the turntable.
Inverted oil circulating main bearing.
Contrary to traditional designs, our main bearing has the point of rotation at the top of the assembly, not at the bottom. This orientation allows us to fully lubricate the inside of the entire bearing while the platter is turning. We achieve this by way of a modified Archimedean screw that we machine into the inside bore of the bearing. The oil is drawn from a reservoir at the base of the main bearing up to the thrust ball at the top, fully lubricating as it goes, it then returns to the reservoir via a waste hole drilled into the bearing spindle. Lubricating the precision parts of the main bearing in this way means that any potential for noise or vibration created by the rotation of the platter is avoided.
Extra heavy Impedance-matched platter.
The platter material was chosen for its vibration dampening characteristics and because sonically it is a very similar material to vinyl, so it has a very neutral sound characteristic. The extra mass of the Orbe platter gives it great momentum when spinning aiding in speed stability.
Free standing motor unit.
The motor unit used to drive the turntable is completely separate to the turntable, meaning it doesn’t touch the turntable in anyway. The only connection between the motor and the turntable is the drive belt that drives the platter. This stops any noise or vibrations created when the motor is running, getting through to the sensitive parts of the turntable.
Orbe controller power supply.
The most sophisticated power supply we manufacture, the Orbe controller uses a large toroidal transformer, Never Connected™ circuitry and servo motor control technology to make sure the platter is always turning at the correct speed. All the time the platter is turning, the motor is reporting back what the RPM is, if this changes even slightly, the controller automatically adjusts its output to correct the change. The result is that the speed stability of an Orbe turntable is absolutely rock solid.
Orbe record clamp.
The Orbe clamp is a screw-down design, which allows you to exert more force on to the vinyl when clamping it to the platter, than our standard clamps allow. This further helps flatten warped and uneven vinyl and eliminate resonance in the vinyl disk.
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Authorized dealers for Michell Audio MICHELL ORBE SE
- Absoulute Audio plus Video — in-store — Aiken, South Carolina, United States (website)
- Holt Hill — online and in-store — Andover, Massachusetts, United States (website)
- A/V Solutions — in-store — Pleasanton, California, United States (website)
- Acoustica — online and in-store — Chester, England, United Kingdom (website)
- Acton Gate Audio — online and in-store — Cymru, United Kingdom (website)
- Analog Matters — online and in-store — Ormond Beach, Florida, United States (website)
- Analogue Seduction — online and in-store — Whittlesey, England, United Kingdom (website)
- Atelier 13 Audio — in-store — Forest Hills, Tennessee, United States (website)
- Audio Advice — online and in-store — Raleigh, North Carolina, United States (website)
- Audio Advisor — online and in-store — Michigan, United States (website)
and 67 more verified dealers