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Kilburn: amzn.to/3NsvtIx
Stockwell: amzn.to/3zGlERz
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I recently had a chance to try out three new speakers from Marshall; the Tufton, Kilburn II, and the Stockwell II. I got to play around with each of them to see what they sound like, how easy they are to use and what sets them apart from each other.
Marshall Tufton is the largest and most powerful speaker in this range, followed by the Kilburn II, and then the Stockwell II is the smallest and most compact. In the spirit of 'go big or go home', I unboxed the Tufton first to get things started.
Marshall Tufton
I review a lot of speakers and most of the time I power them up and play them for a while and get to know them then make a pronouncement about like or dislike. The second I turned on the Marshall Tufton, it was as if Dave Ghrol kicked in my door with the rest of the Foo Fighters and unleashed a live show in my living room.
I actually stopped and turned to look at it, mouth agape. The sound is astonishing. True, detailed, clear vibrant and just so easy to listen to. Plus, the impressive sound, throbbing bass, and overall power of this speaker gave me a truly room filling sound.
I also immediately fell in love with the retro amp-style design. As a mid century modern fan I appreciate the retro look that still has all the modern technological conveniences.
Since we're on the subject of sound quality, let's get right to how the other two sound also.
Kilburn II
The middle child of the Marshall family, the Kilburn II has many of the same fuatures as the Tufton, as we'll see. I did notice with this one, I needed to crank the volume level to about 6 to be able to hear it. (I'd first connected to the Tufton and it was plenty loud on 3 and when I switched seconds later without changing anything else, I couldn't hear a peep from the Kilburn II.)
Volume oddities aside the sound quality is good, though not as knock-you-over as the Tufton. (In hindsight I probably should have started small and worked my way up.) The overall sound has a strong level of bass (and both bass and treble are adjustable on the speaker) but I did notice a tich more raspiness. Probably nothing you'd notice on your own without having the Tufton next to it. The Kilburn II isn't quite as rich and full, but it is still very good.
Stockwell II
When it comes to the Stockwell II, this little speaker also sounds phenomenal; it has a surprising amount of power for its size. It sounds great with a good bass level and clear overall sound, with no raspiness, tinniness or reverberations.
My biggest issue with this speaker was the same as the Kilburn II; I had to crank up both the volume on my phone and the on the speaker to get it to play loud enough. I was using this one at about 75-80% of the phone's volume, and the dial set at 10 on the speaker most of the time. Not sure what's going on with the volume, but with this speaker. in particular, it's pretty limiting.
Curious, I grabbed my Google Pixel 3 (I'd been using it with the iPhone XS Max previously) and connected. Same issue; I needed this speaker cranked in order to hear it at a decent level.
Looks, styling, & size
Each of these speakers is largely the same design; black case, protected corner tabs to for durability, they're all somewhat water resistant (we'll get to that in a sec) and they all have the same leather guitar-style carrying strap. They also have all the same buttons and knobs on top:
There's three dials on top; volume, bass, and treble. There’s also a small Bluetooth button, and a battery level indicator.
The Tufton weighs about 10 pounds and stands nearly 14 inches high. It's big, heavy, and you'll probably find it most at home on the floor.
Kilburn II medium
Kilburn II is what I'd call a medium sized speaker. Weighing in at about 5 pounds it's 10" at its widest.
The Stockwell II is the smallest of the Marshall speakers I tried out.
Unlike the Kilburn or the Tufton, this speaker uses a USB- C charging cable to power up. The others use a dedicated AC cord.
It's about 3 pounds, and much smaller, at 7" at it's widest point.
Battery life
Somewhat surprisingly, each of the speakers have pretty much the same battery life. Marshall says the speakers will give you around 20 hours of portable play time.
Water resistance
The Tufton and the Kilburn II are both IPX2 water resistant. That means it's ok against drops of water, but you wouldn't want to get it actually wet.
The Stockwell II meanwhile is IPX4 water resistant. That means it can handle more splashing, but still, you want to keep it out of direct water.
10 сен 2024
