Marshall Middleton review
Right at the beginning of the new year, Zound Indsutries surprises with a new Bluetooth speaker, the Marshall Middleton. The latest fireworks of new, sonically and technically mature Bluetooth speakers were set off by the cult manufacturer Marshall and its Scandinavian licensee in the home sector: Acton III, Stanmore III and Woburn III were all successful in our tests. Some fans of the brand may have wished for a portable version with a battery – a larger Marshall Emberton 2, so to speak. It has been the most versatile in our test so far and always surprises positively in terms of sound, but it is also quite small and not a dynamic rocker.
With the new Middleton model, the fans’ cries have been answered: we actually had the feeling that we were looking at a significantly grown Emberton 2. Grown in this case means that the weight in particular has more than doubled. The rubber loop, on which you wear the Middleton, turns out accordingly wide. The weight is felt accordingly on the way from the subway to the swimming lake. So off into the backpack with the Middleton, which is feasible thanks to the still compact dimensions and the fillet. As a more compact successor to the Kilburn II, will it be able to replace it in the long term?
An adult Emberton II
By the way, the battery life did not grow with the weight. The Middleton is content with a still respectable 20 hours of maximum runtime, and then demands a proud 4.5 hours for a full charge of the battery.
But there is a good reason for that: Four amplifier channels now work inside, mobilizing a total of 60 watts. That’s times almost a cheerful doubling compared to the nominally larger Marshall Kilburn II and allows not only deep bass and high sound levels, but also a full stereo arrangement in 2-way technology. So two woofers of an amazing 7.6 centimeters in diameter and two small tweeters Two large passive diaphragms provide additional downward extensions of the low-frequency range, without having to burn valuable amplifier power or cabinet volume for it. Also a record of membrane area, therefore, for the volume.
Bluetooth box with Quadro drive
The arrangement of the chassis is distributed on all four sides. The two woofers each radiate to their side, front and rear are each occupied by a tweeter plus a passive diaphragm. The right tweeter is located on the right front, the left one on the left rear. Thus, the compact transom must always stand horizontally and should get some minimum distance to all sides.
The manufacturer thus promises a stereophonic widening of the surround sound image and calls it “True Stereophonic with multi-directional and immersive sound”. From a home theater enthusiast’s point of view, perhaps somewhat exaggerated words, because we did not find a complex circuit for virtual surround sound in the Middleton. Which is rather an advantage for the sound of music in stereo, because too complex circuits of this kind often also lead to phased and cancelled sound in the mids. And in open-air operation, the Middleton has an unparalleled omnidirectional sound.
Highest praise for useful features
Some competitors recently seemed to overload their Bluetooth speakers with features. And the Marshall equipment list is also growing. However, especially with the Middleton, we had the feeling that only really useful and intuitive features were added here and no bells and whistles.
Many Marshall fans will appreciate the additional analog jack input, which we still missed on the Emberton II. On the other hand, there is a party mode, which is called “stack mode” in style, as usual for Marshall. And it can be activated without an app. However, you can’t make a true stereo pair out of two Middleton, but have to rely on the stereo imaging of one speaker. There is also app control, powerbank function, and multihosting for connecting two source devices. Bluetooth is absolutely state of the art with version 5.1.
Although the Middleton doesn’t offer the retro feeling with rotary controls like its homie brother Acton III, the brass-colored joystick button for volume and playback control convinced us once again. The other buttons for input selection, stacking, and bass and treble controls are extremely practical and intuitive. But they are also all pretty well hidden on the top. The exemplary red LED battery indicator is more clearly visible.
The app is missing an important feature
The Marshall Bluetooth app for iOS and Android basically doubles all these displays and options, which leaves it largely dispensable in the end. On the Android phone, however, the Bluetooth connection exclusively required an app, and only after quite a few attempts in the connection sequence, system updates and several dead ends in the Playstore did it finally work out with the synchronization. By the way, the app left one important wish unfulfilled, but we will get to that in a suitable place in the listening test.
Waterproof, dustproof, sustainable
The Middleton’s IP67 rating stands for up to 30 minutes of swapping in water up to one meter deep. Together with the dust cover, this is more than you need in the rough everyday life at the beach and camping.
Especially since the Middleton with its sturdy but finger-flattering soft case in leather look and rounded edges also seems to be quite resistant. By the way, nostalgic retro looks do not stand in the way of sustainability: The manufacturer promises a 55% recycling rate for the casing and does not use PVC. After all, that should be reserved for vinyl records, in case there’s ever a shortage.
This is how the Marshall Middleton sounds
With a short electric guitar riff, the Marshall announces a successful connection to the Bluetooth device. During our listening rounds in different environments, we quickly got the feeling that we had two differently tuned Bluetooth systems in front of us. In other words, the Marshall Middleton was a bank in open-air use: dynamic, lively, rich, deep bass and quite loud. It also managed like no other outdoor speaker to combine jumping, fast sound with perfect omnidirectional sound to the front and rear.
We particularly liked the tuning in the mids and trebles: Voices sounded balanced and with good definition, but still with the necessary emphasis and articulation, as you would expect from a rock concert. For all its tendency to rock and pop, the Middleton never got sharp and delivered really clean imaging. Even when he had to play several voices, brass or saxophones.
There is truly no shortage of bass
Its bass capabilities were amazingly voluminous considering its size: really deep, rich and loud, it hurled out beats as if it had double or triple the volume at its disposal. The fact that the bass sometimes seemed a bit dominant and couldn’t always keep up with the subjective speed of the mids and trebles shouldn’t bother anyone at the beach or in the park. Especially older rock, 1970s disco and co sounded nice and with impressive bass. With electronic beats, on the other hand, it could be too much with the volume around the bottom, and impulses combined into a true bass thunderstorm.
However, this became a handicap in the living room: In the low frequencies, a narrow frequency range appeared so dominant that it covered the rest of the spectrum. Depending on the piece of music and the room acoustics, the bass was spongy or even boomy, which was simply too much of a good thing, especially when placed close to the wall. By the way, correcting the bass control did not help, but took away additional fundamental volume and kick bass from the sound image, which intensified the very room-dependent effect.
It’s a pity, because otherwise the Middleton would have cut a good figure indoors as well. In smaller rooms and when sitting directly in front of it, you don’t notice much of the stereo effect, but all the more of its jumping dynamics and directness. However, in larger rooms, especially when the Marshall was placed on a table towards the corner with half a meter between it and all walls, it provided good sound distribution and room size.
Hard to tame
Unfortunately, experience has shown that the booming problem in the bass increases again. The rear tweeter, on the other hand, makes sound a gamble on the shelf or directly on the wall. Thus, we can seriously recommend it only for on-the-go use. But all the more emphatically. A remedy would be within reach: For home speakers like the Woburn 3, the Marshall Bluetooth app offers an easy-to-use “Placement Control”, which allows the Bluetooth speaker, which also has a very powerful bass, to be adjusted to its location in the bass range. But as it is in the meantime: Today is not every day, maybe a future update will bring it if many users join our opinion after the launch.
Test conclusion and alternatives to the Marshall Middleton
Concentrated technology, convincing exterior, just compact dimensions and dynamic-grown sound – in its size class, the Marshall Middleton clears for outdoor use. For that, it costs a few euros more than possible competitors like the Aiwa Exos-3 or the Dockin D Fine 2. Both play at a comparable level to the Marshall and come with standard power supplies. But they are larger and heavier. So if money is no object and bass violence in handbag format is in demand, they are at a certain disadvantage.
On the other hand, hybrid operation in the home is more difficult: a Sony SRS-XG300 with its dry bass might not sound quite as spectacular for hip-hop fans and is heavier, but it hardly causes any problems in the bass when interacting with the room. The Japanese knows no drone problems that prevent an indoor recommendation for the Middleton at the end of the day. Exception: if you live with drywall walls and slopes under the roof – which absorbs bass.
Technical data: Marshall Middleton
- Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price: 300 Euro
- Dimensions (W x H x D): 23 x 11 x 9.5 cm
- Weight: 1.8 kg
- Battery life up to 20 hours
- Features: IP67 water and dust protection, Marshall Bluetooth app, stack mode, multi-host with two smartphones, in black or beige.
- More at: www.marshallheadphones.com
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