Cabasse Pack iO3 5.0 on black matte base

Five spheres measuring 16 cm in diameter, placed on a shelf or mounted on the wall, and an entire home theater system fits into a living room without cluttering it. This package brings together five identical iO3 satellites, mounted on their bases, enough to equip the two front channels, the center channel and the two rear channels with a single speaker model. The acoustic principle comes directly from the Breton manufacturer’s large speakers, scaled down to a format that blends into the background.

A coaxial driver, a single sound source

Each iO3 uses a single 13 cm driver with the tweeter at its center. The mid-bass and treble therefore originate from the same point, rather than being stacked one above the other on the front panel as in a conventional speaker, and the balance between the two changes much less as you move off-axis, which matters in a living room where not everyone sits in the middle of the sofa. Cabasse has made this coaxial technology its specialty and formalized it under the name SCS, for Spatially Coherent Source, first in its high-end ARTIS range, then in the Baltic speakers, whose coincident-source principle the iO3 adopts on a smaller scale.

The 13 cm cone is made of Duocell, a very lightweight closed-cell foam that the brand shapes in its own workshops: its lightness gives it responsiveness, while internal damping limits unwanted resonances. At the center, the 2.7 cm dome is made of Kaladex, a semi-rigid polymer. The crossover divides the signal between the two at 2,700 Hz, and a port at the rear of the sphere extends the lower end of the frequency range.

A magnetic base that swivels and mounts on the wall

The sphere is held on its base magnetically, and you simply turn it by hand to aim it toward the listening area, with no tools or adjustments to tighten. The base sits flat on a piece of furniture or mounts vertically on the wall with a single screw, provided the orientation specified by Cabasse is followed: it cannot be mounted upside down or on the ceiling. When wall-mounted, the cable passes through the upper outlet and is secured in the cable clamp between the two gold-plated terminals.

Care has been taken with cable routing. The base offers three outlets, one in the center and one at each end, and its bottom plate, which bears the logo, can be reversed to choose the most discreet route. Removing this plate provides access to the connection terminals. The only precaution during use: when adjusting the sphere, make sure the base does not block the rear port.

Five channels with identical tonal character

With five strictly identical speakers, the center channel has exactly the same sonic signature as the front channels, and a voice moving from the screen toward the side does not change its tonal character along the way. The same applies to an effect moving from the front to the rear of the room. This point, often overlooked when assembling a multichannel system from different models, creates a more consistent soundstage.

In terms of amplification, the sensitivity of 93 dB (the sound level obtained at one meter with one watt) is high for a satellite of this size: an AV amplifier with reasonable power is enough to drive the system with ease. The nominal impedance is 8 Ω, with a dip to 3.8 Ω that the electronics must be able to handle, and each iO3 handles 80 W continuously. The system can also grow: Cabasse provides for 6.1 or 7.1 configurations by adding more iO3 speakers, available in base-mounted, floorstanding, wall-mounted or in-ceiling versions.

A subwoofer to plan for from the outset

The “5.0” in the name says it all: the package includes only the five satellites. A 16 cm sphere cannot reach the deepest bass, and the iO3’s frequency response starts at 150 Hz. The subwoofer is therefore not an optional addition but the sixth component of the system, the one that handles the entire bass range, including some of the upper bass that larger speakers would reproduce themselves.

Cabasse identifies the Santorin 25 as the dedicated subwoofer for the iO3, and also lists the Lipari 21 and the Santorin 30-200 and 30-500. With another subwoofer, you need to check that its crossover frequency can be set as high as 150 Hz and that its filter roll-off becomes very steep from 200 Hz. A model whose range ends lower would leave a gap between the upper limit of the subwoofer and the start of the satellites’ range, noticeable on male voices and bass instruments.

Technical Specifications

Acoustic Configuration

• Type: 2-way
• Speakers:
  • 1 × 2-way coaxial, 13 cm Duocell
  • 1 × dome tweeter, ∅ 2.7 cm Kaladex

Audio Performance

• Power:
  • Nominal: 80 W
  • Peak: 580 W
• Sensitivity: 93 dB (1 W / 1 m)
• Crossover frequency: 2,700 Hz
• Frequency response: 150 to 22,000 Hz
• Impedance:
  • Nominal: 8 Ω
  • Minimum: 3.8 Ω

Physical Characteristics

• Installation type: bookshelf or wall-mounted
• Dimensions (H × W × D): 20.6 × 16 × 18.8 cm
• Weight: 1.8 kg