If you’re a music fan, or just love the classic Marshall guitar amplifier design, this Bluetooth speaker is ready to rock. Like all Marshall products, you pay a price for the style, but it lives up to expectations. For a speaker that’s about as big as four old DVD cases stacked, standing upright, it sounds killer with a smooth, balanced, and refined sound.
The exterior has a durable-feeling, splash-resistant silicone finish, and the front and back are covered with a steel grille. It has a front-facing woofer and a tweeter on each side, powered by a battery that lasts around 20 hours (USB-C charging with a 3.5-mm jack too), depending on how much you tweak the stylish volume, treble, and bass knobs up top. The battery indicator is also handy. I’ve enjoyed toting all 3 pounds of it around with its carry strap, which has a leather feel on the outside and a red velvet look and feel on the inside.
If you want a little more power and heft, the Marshall Kilburn II ($220) is similarly excellent and the Marshall Emberton ($150) is a great extra-portable addition to the amp company’s Bluetooth line. Like the Stockwell II, it has a built-in battery gauge, which makes it easy to tell when it’s time to find a charging cable.