Enceinte Bluetooth Marshall Stanmore Ii Blanche

Tom's Guide Verdict

For those who are about to rock, the Stanmore II has just about everything you need--as long as y'all don't mind spending a big chunk of money.

Pros

+
Keen looks
+
Brilliant big sound
+
Easy to set upward

Cons

-
Mesomorphic and heavy
-
No battery option
-
Pricey

Marshall is best known for its vast amp range but in contempo years it has used its sound prowess to muscle in on the Bluetooth speaker market. The $399.99 / £349.99 Marshall Stanmore II Voice sees Marshall emulating its amp's looks with this device. Put it adjacent with one and you would be hard pushed to tell the difference, except the accompanying knobs are situated on the tiptop of the device and non the front.

But that'southward the indicate of this Bluetooth speaker, it'southward for those who desire that look and for their music to be both loud… and with added vocalisation command. Which voice command is really upward to you—there's both an Alexa and Google Assistant variant available. For the purpose of this review, we went with the newer Google Assistant compatible speaker. Whichever model you choose, you'll enjoy the combination of powerful audio and retro blueprint.

Design and features

The Marshall Stanmore Ii Voice is 1 old-school looking device. It'south a far cry from the likes of other unassuming smart speakers, such equally Google Domicile or Amazon Echo. Size wise, it's a fleck of a beast. Information technology measures 13.78 x 7.68 ten vii.28 inches (350 x 195 x 185 mm), so its footprint is more akin to the Google Home Max.

This isn't a speaker to try and hibernate abroad on a shelf—not that y'all would want to, given how great it looks. It weighs 10.3 pounds (4.75 kg), so we wouldn't exactly call it portable—a lack of rechargeable battery also puts that idea to bed.

The analog knobs can be used to change the book, tweak the bass and the treble.

While it may expect like something primed to claw a guitar up to, the Marshall Stanmore II Voice's innards are far more advanced than that. This is a Bluetooth (5.0 and aptX) speaker, which has Wi-Fi on board and the dulcet tones of Google Assistant (or Alexa, if yous prefer) can also exist institute within the wood and vinyl outside.

To polish off the Marshall look, there'southward some brass plating, nice LED lighting (around the volume, bass and treble controls and at the front of the device), and twiddly knobs that are made out of rubber and metal, which is a change to the brass ones that the original Stanmore used.

Setup

Setting up a smart speaker always falls into two camps: an absolute breeze or 'if you don't connect, I'm going to put my boot through you'. Lucky for my pes—as it'south highly likely I would break a toe—information technology was an absolute breeze to prepare upward.

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Flick the speaker on, head to the Google Abode app, and you're good to go. This is a little easier than the Amazon Alexa version of the device, where y'all have to also download Marshall Voice app. It does mean yous practice lose the opportunity to fine melody the music through the Marshall app, which as well has some music presets. But you can do this yourself through the analog knobs. These can be used to change the volume, tweak the bass and treble and, once clicked, play, pause and skip tracks. I mostly used Google Assistant to control the speaker, but it's a lot of fun this way, too.

If you wanted to go even more than onetime school, there is too an aux port situated on the back of the speaker. Y'all will have to observe your own aux cablevision, though, as there isn't one supplied with the speaker.

Sound and performance

The Marshall Stanmore Two Voice has a bold, brazen sound that fills the room when turned up, but not at the detriment to the sound quality. Bass may be thunderous, hitting with a thud when a song allows it, but there is still plenty room in the mids and trebles for a song to exhale.

The Marshall Stanmore Ii Voice has a bold, brazen audio that fills the room when turned up, but not at the detriment to the audio quality.

Nearly of the tracks we tried on the speaker were guitar based, for obvious reasons. The cowboy jangle of Bon Jovi'southward Wanted Dead or Alive was much more alive than dead. Chuck Berry's Johnny B Goode was, well, ameliorate than good. The song's iconic guitar riff, originally played on a Gibson guitar and (whisper it) through a Fender amp, sounded firsthand and surprisingly fresh, then when the band kicked in the amp served the bigger audio well.

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Fast-forwards some 50 years and the bass thud of Vii Nation Regular army by The White Stripes thrummed every bit well as I hoped it would.

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Throughout this rails you can hear all of the 50 watts the sub has get to work. This is complimented past 2 xv watt speakers for the tweeters.

I didn't demand to practise also much tweaking to the bass and treble, despite the option to do and then through the concrete controls on the speaker.

For the nigh part, though, I ignored the knobs and used voice controls. If yous have used Google Assistant before, then you know what to expect—vocalism control works well on this speaker and, once you accept enabled control through the Google Abode app, the Stanmore II tin become the face of your smart abode. And what a face it is.

Lesser Line

The Marshall Stanmore Ii Voice is a stylish smart speaker that has hitting looks that are a lot more than memorable than the Homepods and Echos of the world. Granted, the amp-like exterior is not for all but this Marshall offers something a petty bit dissimilar.

Its sound is big and bold, too. While the accompanying Marshall app is a little barren, it'southward music presets work well and Google Banana is seamless.

This is a Bluetooth speaker rockstar—1 with swagger, stage presence and more than than its fair share of musical talent. It'south not inexpensive at $399, but information technology sure is cheerful.

Credit: Tom's Guide

Marc Chacksfield is Director of Shortlist Media and Editor-In-Main of Shortlist. He's been a technology and entertainment journalist for 15 years and was previously UK Editor In Main at Tom'south Guide, TechRadar and Digital Photographic camera Globe. He's also written for the likes of T3 and Tom'southward Hardware. In his spare time he tries to play guitar, PlayStation and supports Chelsea.