Marshall launched its Acton, Stanmore, and Woburn series of gen III speakers in India a few months back. Here we have the Marshall STANMORE III from the STANMORE series in the home line-up that promise strong, wide sound with angled tweeters and improved waveguide for consistently solid sound.
Design and Build quality
The STANMORE III has an iconic design with a stripped-back look and a vegan leather enclosure. Marshall says that it has used PVC-free, 70% recycled plastic. It measures 350 x 203 x 188 mm and weighs 4.25kg. In addition to the vintage Cream that we have, the speakers also come in original Black and relaxed Brown colours.
On the top there are brass control knobs for volume, bass and treble, echoing the legacy of rock ’n’ roll. There is Marshall’s multi-directional control knob and traditional power switch. On the left you can find the button to switch the source, and an AUX port, which is easy to access.
The control knob also lights up showing the strength of volume, bass and treble.
There is RCA port, power port and a service port on the back.
You can also find the bass port for the woofer on the back. There are a lot of text that doesn’t make the speaker look good.
Connectivity, Pairing, and App
The Marshall STANMORE III supports Bluetooth 5.2 with SBC codec. The company could have offered AAC codec and even aptX considering the price. The pairing process is very easy. Just enable Bluetooth on the phone, press and hold the source button on the speaker for a few seconds to enter Bluetooth settings. Then, select the STANMORE III. There is fast pair option which works in latest Android phones. We tested it on the iPhone 15 Plus, Pixel 7, and Pixel 8 and never faced any pairing or disconnection issues.
There is a Marshall Bluetooth companion app for Android and iPhone. This lets you play / pause, change tracks. It also shows more details about Marshall products.
The app also offers placement compensation. The equalizer option just shows bass and treble controls, same as the one on the speaker. You also get firmware updates through the app. Wish the app had option to set equalizer presets and switch to them quickly.
Audio Quality
The Marshall STANMORE III has a 50W class D amp for woofers and 2 x 15W class D amps for tweeters.
This offers a powerful low-frequency response, but don’t expect a pumping bass. Midrange was decent for natural and detailed vocals and instruments, but it offers clear and crisp highs. Overall, the speakers offer a wider soundstage and more engaging sound for a Bluetooth speaker in its price range.
Even though it only has SBC, the audio quality was as good as listening using AUX. It is loud when you increase the volume, but there is distortion in full volume, but it is good in medium and high.
Conclusion
Overall, the Marshall Stanmore III is a good Bluetooth speaker with excellent audio quality in most scenarios. However, its limited codec support, and limited app features are worth noting.
The Marshall STANMORE III is priced at Rs. 41,999 and is available from the company’s website, marshallheadphones.com and other retailers across India.