Marshall Stanmore II Wireless Bluetooth Speaker - Black (UK)

Product Information

However, the one true omission is portability. The Marshall Stanmore II would be a great speaker for summer days – and if that appeals then you should consider the Harman Kardon Go + Play while it’s still available. Verdict However, it’s getting to this stage that’s frustrating. Alexa’s iOS app isn’t very good, and you sometimes even have to use it to pair new Bluetooth devices, in addition to using it throughout the initial setup. We repeatedly tried to link our Philips Hue and Spotify accounts in it, but it constantly failed. In the end, we turned to the desktop and Alexa’s web interface. Not ideal. Marshall’s Voice app has an equalizer and a few other speaker adjustments, such as the brightness of the volume control lights. It’s reliable, if bland, and you have to install it to make the speaker work.

Vocal-driven, pop-heavy songs such as Iz*One’s La Vie en Rose sparkle too, due to being able to manually adjust the bass and treble on the speaker or by voice. Such easy, on-the-go tweaking of the sound makes a difference if you have varied tastes. We wanted to hear the group sing, more than the bass here, for example. At first the upper-mids and treble can sound a little unrefined, but I found my ears grew accustomed to the tone within an hour or so. If yours don’t, you can just tame the treble a little with either the treble knob up-top, or through the app. You can also create a stereo pair of Stanmore IIs using the Marshall app. Marshall Stanmore II Bluetooth – Sound quality If you want a speaker to move throughout your house and on the go while still maximizing sound quality, the Bose SoundLink Revolve+ II is ideal. The lightest speaker we tested, we were consistently impressed by its excellent sound design, which was never sacrificed at the altar of portability. If you feel the need to push this speaker beyond its singular capabilities, our testing found that the Bose SoundLink Revolve+ II's appropriately titled "party mode" allowed seamless pairing with other Bose SoundLink speakers. It can also link with the Bose Home series speakers via Bose SimpleSync. Furthermore, this speaker has an incredible battery life, a testament to this speaker's tremendous portability both within the home and on excursions out. If you are particularly susceptible to fatigue as a result of treble frequencies, you can turn the treble dial down to soften the sound, which should take the edge off.Marshall is the most iconic name in guitar amplifiers – but if you’re reading this then you probably know this already. Famous names who have used Marshall kit over the years include Hendrix, Van Halen, Slayer and Spinal Tap. The speaker is covered in Marshall’s signature textured vinyl, the grille over the front is a mottled grey, and the logo and base plate are brass-colored, which looks really fantastic. The Marshall Kilburn IIlooks like a toy when put alongside, in terms of both size and materials. The Stanmore is heavy at 10.5 pounds (4.75kg), and the footprint is sizeable, so you need a decent surface to place it on. Make sure you set aside a strong shelf for the Stanmore II Voice if you want one. Once it’s there, it’ll stay, as it does not have a battery for portable use. That being said, if it’s all about that bass for you, then you will likely be very happy indeed with the audio quality of the speaker, and it’s perfect for listening to hip-hop and other bass-heavy genres. Marshall has done a great job of making the Stanmore II resemble an amp, while at the same time adding a bit of glamour and softness for it to comfortably fit in a living room. The Stanmore II is a mid-size model in the Marshall lineup. It’s a similar size to a Sonos Play:5; big enough to be thought of as your main music source. The Marshall Stanmore II is just like the Stanmore II Voice, without the Wi-Fi and smart-assistant features. To get a portable model you have to downgrade to the Marshall Kilburn II. It’s significantly smaller and has smaller-scale sound.

None of this is criticism. However, a Marshall amp in a living room has a tendency to make a flat or house look “studenty”. A Marshall Stanmore II won’t. Các núm vặn điều chỉnh không có sự thay đổi, 4 chân cao su độ bền cao giúp giữ loa chắc chắn ở vị trí cực tốt. Đánh giá chất lượng loa Marshall Stanmore 2 Hệ thống 3 loa 2 đường tiếng There’s tonnes of power behind it too, easily filling up the room with music and then some. Dynamic Loudness is a feature built-in that “adjusts the tonal balance of the sound to ensure your music sounds brilliant at every volume” and you can definitely hear that in action as you dial the sound all the way up because you don’t lose out at all on detail.There’s no hiding that the Stanmore II falls behind top performers such as the Sonos One and Harman Kardon Go + Play in certain areas, though. Bass control, dynamics and separation are just okay.

It sounds its best when played fairly loud, but doesn’t quite have the separation and dynamics of the very top performers. The same criticism can be levelled at Marshall’s other speakers, too.

Bose has definitely stepped up their app game recently. However, even with these improvements, we still find managing multiple-speaker systems on the Sonos app considerably easier. Additionally, Bose has multiple families of speakers, and generally, speakers from one family can only work in conjunction with other speakers from that same family. For example, many speakers we tested a few years ago don't work with the newest family of speakers that have come out. That being said, all of the Bose products in this review are compatible with Bose Simplesync, which allows seamless pairing and multi-device audio play. However, older Bose speakers, even those from only a few years ago, may not have these capabilities. Sonos Compatibility Restrictions

In May 2020, Sonos released new speakers incompatible with some of its oldest products. These newer speakers (including the Five) can only run with the latest S2 app, and some of the company's older products don't have enough processing power to keep up with the said app. These older products generally were not the most popular, so this change hopefully won't affect too many customers. If you do own one of these products, Sonos is offering a trade-in program where you can send in your older products and get a 30% discount on their upgraded versions. Additionally, all products made from here on out will only work with the S2 app and thus will not connect with the oldest, non-S2 compatible products. Bottom line, if you own one of these older products, you'll either have to upgrade or not use any of the company's newest products (or create two separate Sonos systems in your home, but having two groups of speakers that can't talk to one another kind of negates a lot of what makes Sonos great). Single-Speaker Systems You could even attach a guitar amp modeller pedal and use the Stanmore II as a low volume guitar practice amp. Wired connections in wireless speakers are, thankfully, fairly common – but here they’re unusually prominent. And the button that switches between them is right there up-top. Also included on this unit is a handle, something that I wish was part of every speaker for the purposes of portability. Despite being a Bluetooth speaker, the Marshall Stanmore II actually needs to be plugged-in to function. To look at it you may think, “of course it needs mains power, look how big it is”. However, the Harman Kardon Go + Play 2 is a similar-ish size but can run for up to eight hours off a charge. The build feels very well constructed and durable, and this time around it was made using 70% recycled plastic and only vegan materials. But it’s not water resistant so you’ll need to be careful of spilt drinks which could ruin it. The Marshall’s large control knobs offer a satisfying feel, as does the power lever. However, as the volume and tone is controlled by your phone as well as these on-speaker controls, a series of LED light sits around each so you can determine the volume level and bass/treble settings.

Whether the Marshall Stanmore III is the right choice for you or not will depend largely on what you need from a wireless speaker. If you want something that will look really cool and sound fantastic with loads of power then this will be perfect, but if you’re looking for advanced smarts like voice control and multiroom then you won’t get either of those and you’re better off looking elsewhere. The bass frequencies are pretty good, with a warm, generous sound, but it’s in the sub bass that the Stanmore II shines, sending out powerful, thumpy vibrations you can feel in your chest. The Bluetooth is very reliable, I could take my smartphone into another room without the music cutting out, and my phone automatically connected almost instantaneously every time I switched it on. Sensitive ears may find the harsh treble frequencies cause fatigue, but this can be rectified by adjusting the treble and bass dials on the top of the speakers. If you're looking for a live music experience from the comfort of home, this is the speaker for you