Marshall Acton Bluetooth Speaker
£249/$249
189
Key features 52-20,000Hz frequency range • Bluetooth • Airplay • 3.5mm input Learn more marshallheadphones.com Available from amazon.co.uk
Every inch the baby brother to the Marshall Stanmore (reviewed on page 86), the Acton is a slightly scaled-down version boasting a nearidentical design that is designed to sit bellowing out loud rock music in the smaller rooms of your home. Despite its smaller size (10.45x6.3x5.9 inch compared to the 13.77x7.28x7.28 inch dimensions of the Stanmore), the Acton does an equally impressive job of filling every crevice of the room with punchy sound.
Perfectly formed
Externally, the Acton doesn’t have the RCA inputs – understandable given that this is designed to operate as a satellite speaker with the connections being handled by the Stanmore in your main living room – and it doesn’t emit the same satisfying bass burp when you connect it to Bluetooth. Inside the power amps are scaled down to one 30 Watt Class D amp for the woofer and twin 10 Watt Class D amps for the tweeters. Listen to both speakers alternately in a small room and you’ll not be able to tell the difference.
Aside from RCA, the connectivity is the same as the Stanmore, with Bluetooth, Airplay, Chromecast and Spotify Direct representing the wireless options with just a 3.5mm input for wired connections. You just need to weigh up whether you need a small speaker for a small room or a big speaker that’s suitable for any room.