Marshall recently updated its line of Bluetooth speakers, and at $349.99, the Stanmore II Bluetooth falls in the middle of its three new options in terms of size, price, and power.
Fans of the iconic Marshall look won't be disappointed with the Stanmore II's aesthetics.
Sonically, the speaker sounds very good, but compared with its more expensive sibling, the Woburn II Bluetooth, it's not as compelling.
The Woburn II Bluetooth, which packs an extra woofer, isn't cheap, but lives up to its cost, while the Stanmore II Bluetooth—also not cheap—feels a bit overpriced for what you get.
It's a solid speaker, but if you're willing to save some money and spring for the Woburn II, you won't be disappointed.
Honest, Objective Reviews
Daxdi.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services.
Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.
Design
Available in black or white, the handsome Stanmore II Bluetooth follows the same basic concept as the rest of Marshall's offerings: It looks like a miniature guitar amp.
But at 7.7 by 13.8 by 7.3 inches (HWD) and 10.3 pounds, it makes for a fairly bulky speaker.
If you like the retro design of Marshall amps, the Stanmore does them justice, with a leather grain exterior and tweed-like cloth grille with brushed aluminum, gold-colored highlights.
The control panel up top houses knobs for volume, bass, and treble, as well as a power switch, a play/pause button, and an audio source button for switching between Bluetooth mode and aux or RCA modes.
There's a 3.5mm aux input up top, and an RCA input on the rear panel.
Behind the grille, the Stanmore II Bluetooth packs dual 15-watt tweeters and a single 50-watt woofer, delivering a frequency range of 50Hz-20kHz.
The back panel of the speaker is far less attractive.
It's covered in painted-on warning labels and legalese that most manufacturers manage to hide from view.
The only way this will be hidden is if you park the Stanmore II Bluetooth against a wall.
There's a port on the rear panel for air to escape through, as well as the aforementioned RCA input and the connection for the power cable.
There are no included cables for the RCA and 3.5mm aux inputs, which seems like quite an omission given the high price.
The Marshall Bluetooth app is free and delivers firmware updates for the speaker.
It also allows you to use custom EQ presets or create your own, working in conjunction with the bass and treble knobs on the control panel.
In addition, you can use the app to adjust the brightness of the red LEDs, turn audio prompts on or off, and pair the speaker with another Marshall unit to make a stereo pair.
Performance
The five-band in-app EQ, as well as the bass and treble knobs on the speaker itself, allow you to really dial in your ideal sound (within the overall limitations of the speaker's drivers).
We tested it with the bass and treble knobs in the middle and the app set to flat.
From there you can adjust to your heart's content, with the bass and treble knobs coming after the app in the chain—so you can boost lows in the app and then dial them up or down a bit with the knob.
Using the aforementioned settings, the Stanmore II Bluetooth delivers powerful bass on tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout." However, at top volumes—and the speaker can get quite loud—there is significant distortion.
This shouldn't happen, period, but it only occurs at insanely high volume levels, so you likely won't encounter this issue.
Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the Stanmore II Bluetooth's general sound signature.
This track doesn't distort at top volumes, and at more moderate listening levels, the drums have a healthy, robust presence in the lows—not overly boosted, but certainly powerful.
Boosting the bass in the app or with the knob can give the drums a thunderous, borderline unnatural sound, but there's plenty of room to work with here.
Callahan's baritone vocals have a rich delivery here, as well as a crisp treble presence to keep things defined.
The acoustic guitar strums and higher register percussive hits benefit from the speaker's ability to deliver bright, crisp audio, and, of course, this can be dialed up significantly in the app or with the treble knob.
At default levels, though, the bass and treble are nicely balanced.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop receives plenty of high-mid presence, allowing its attack to remain sharp and punchy.
The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat have a solid depth, even in flat mode.
Boosting the bass here tends to beef up the drum loop more so than it strengthens the sub-bass.
Thus, we can deduce that the bass knob is pushing lows and low-mids higher, but the sub-bass frequencies are less affected.
The vocals on this track are clear and clean without sounding overly sibilant, even with the treble knobs boosted significantly.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound magnificent through the Stanmore II Bluetooth.
The lower register instrumentation has a rich, full presence that isn't overly boosted, while the higher register brass, strings, and vocals are bright and seem ideally balanced with the lows, not in competition with them.
Things can be adjusted from flat response mode here, but it's an excellent starting point and many listeners will be pleased leaving things as they are.
Conclusions
The Marshall Stanmore II Bluetooth sounds very strong across every genre.
Unfortunately, on some tracks with serious sub-bass in the mix, the drivers distort at top volumes, though this isn't an issue unless you like to listen at volumes that are seriously dangerous for your hearing.
In this price range, we're also fans of the JBL Boombox and the Libratone Zipp.
For far less, the Ikea Eneby 12-Inch is an excellent wireless option.
While the Stanmore II Bluetooth looks and sounds good, it leaves us dreaming of its pricier sibling, the Woburn II Bluetooth.
If you can afford the extra $150, it dials up the bass depth significantly for some seriously impressive sound.
Marshall Stanmore II Bluetooth
Pros
Solid audio performance with rich bass depth and crisp highs.
In-App EQ.
Bass and Treble knobs for fine-tuning audio.
Attractive overall design.
View More
The Bottom Line
The Marshall Stanmore II Bluetooth speaker delivers strong audio, but its price feels a bit high for the overall experience it delivers.
Marshall recently updated its line of Bluetooth speakers, and at $349.99, the Stanmore II Bluetooth falls in the middle of its three new options in terms of size, price, and power.
Fans of the iconic Marshall look won't be disappointed with the Stanmore II's aesthetics.
Sonically, the speaker sounds very good, but compared with its more expensive sibling, the Woburn II Bluetooth, it's not as compelling.
The Woburn II Bluetooth, which packs an extra woofer, isn't cheap, but lives up to its cost, while the Stanmore II Bluetooth—also not cheap—feels a bit overpriced for what you get.
It's a solid speaker, but if you're willing to save some money and spring for the Woburn II, you won't be disappointed.
Honest, Objective Reviews
Daxdi.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services.
Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.
Design
Available in black or white, the handsome Stanmore II Bluetooth follows the same basic concept as the rest of Marshall's offerings: It looks like a miniature guitar amp.
But at 7.7 by 13.8 by 7.3 inches (HWD) and 10.3 pounds, it makes for a fairly bulky speaker.
If you like the retro design of Marshall amps, the Stanmore does them justice, with a leather grain exterior and tweed-like cloth grille with brushed aluminum, gold-colored highlights.
The control panel up top houses knobs for volume, bass, and treble, as well as a power switch, a play/pause button, and an audio source button for switching between Bluetooth mode and aux or RCA modes.
There's a 3.5mm aux input up top, and an RCA input on the rear panel.
Behind the grille, the Stanmore II Bluetooth packs dual 15-watt tweeters and a single 50-watt woofer, delivering a frequency range of 50Hz-20kHz.
The back panel of the speaker is far less attractive.
It's covered in painted-on warning labels and legalese that most manufacturers manage to hide from view.
The only way this will be hidden is if you park the Stanmore II Bluetooth against a wall.
There's a port on the rear panel for air to escape through, as well as the aforementioned RCA input and the connection for the power cable.
There are no included cables for the RCA and 3.5mm aux inputs, which seems like quite an omission given the high price.
The Marshall Bluetooth app is free and delivers firmware updates for the speaker.
It also allows you to use custom EQ presets or create your own, working in conjunction with the bass and treble knobs on the control panel.
In addition, you can use the app to adjust the brightness of the red LEDs, turn audio prompts on or off, and pair the speaker with another Marshall unit to make a stereo pair.
Performance
The five-band in-app EQ, as well as the bass and treble knobs on the speaker itself, allow you to really dial in your ideal sound (within the overall limitations of the speaker's drivers).
We tested it with the bass and treble knobs in the middle and the app set to flat.
From there you can adjust to your heart's content, with the bass and treble knobs coming after the app in the chain—so you can boost lows in the app and then dial them up or down a bit with the knob.
Using the aforementioned settings, the Stanmore II Bluetooth delivers powerful bass on tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout." However, at top volumes—and the speaker can get quite loud—there is significant distortion.
This shouldn't happen, period, but it only occurs at insanely high volume levels, so you likely won't encounter this issue.
Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the Stanmore II Bluetooth's general sound signature.
This track doesn't distort at top volumes, and at more moderate listening levels, the drums have a healthy, robust presence in the lows—not overly boosted, but certainly powerful.
Boosting the bass in the app or with the knob can give the drums a thunderous, borderline unnatural sound, but there's plenty of room to work with here.
Callahan's baritone vocals have a rich delivery here, as well as a crisp treble presence to keep things defined.
The acoustic guitar strums and higher register percussive hits benefit from the speaker's ability to deliver bright, crisp audio, and, of course, this can be dialed up significantly in the app or with the treble knob.
At default levels, though, the bass and treble are nicely balanced.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop receives plenty of high-mid presence, allowing its attack to remain sharp and punchy.
The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat have a solid depth, even in flat mode.
Boosting the bass here tends to beef up the drum loop more so than it strengthens the sub-bass.
Thus, we can deduce that the bass knob is pushing lows and low-mids higher, but the sub-bass frequencies are less affected.
The vocals on this track are clear and clean without sounding overly sibilant, even with the treble knobs boosted significantly.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound magnificent through the Stanmore II Bluetooth.
The lower register instrumentation has a rich, full presence that isn't overly boosted, while the higher register brass, strings, and vocals are bright and seem ideally balanced with the lows, not in competition with them.
Things can be adjusted from flat response mode here, but it's an excellent starting point and many listeners will be pleased leaving things as they are.
Conclusions
The Marshall Stanmore II Bluetooth sounds very strong across every genre.
Unfortunately, on some tracks with serious sub-bass in the mix, the drivers distort at top volumes, though this isn't an issue unless you like to listen at volumes that are seriously dangerous for your hearing.
In this price range, we're also fans of the JBL Boombox and the Libratone Zipp.
For far less, the Ikea Eneby 12-Inch is an excellent wireless option.
While the Stanmore II Bluetooth looks and sounds good, it leaves us dreaming of its pricier sibling, the Woburn II Bluetooth.
If you can afford the extra $150, it dials up the bass depth significantly for some seriously impressive sound.
Marshall Stanmore II Bluetooth
Pros
Solid audio performance with rich bass depth and crisp highs.
In-App EQ.
Bass and Treble knobs for fine-tuning audio.
Attractive overall design.
View More
The Bottom Line
The Marshall Stanmore II Bluetooth speaker delivers strong audio, but its price feels a bit high for the overall experience it delivers.
