Marshall Woburn III Review: A powerful speaker with iconic look and sound

The Marshall Woburn III is the brand’s top-of-the-line model in the home speaker space, and like other Marshall products, it boasts that recognizable guitar amp design the company is known for. It has many functions to customize the sound and is equipped with RCA and HDMI ARC inputs, so it can be easily integrated with other components of the sound equipment that we have at home. However, it has some shortcomings in terms of codecs that make us reconsider its offer.

If you are interested in knowing the proposal in depth, welcome to our review of the Marshall Woburn III. On the other hand, if a portable speaker to go with you everywhere is what your heart yearns for, then you might be better off looking at the Marshall Emberton II .

A design that screams Rock and Roll

If you’ve owned other Marshall products, you know what to expect from this speaker. Getting into the details, the Marshall Woburn III has that guitar amp aesthetic that brought Marshall to the top in his time. The cloth front grille proudly bears the brand’s logo , while the rest of the body outlines a synthetic leather material . In addition, we can get the speaker in two color presentations: black and beige, but that does not change anything other than aesthetics.

And speaking of aesthetics, it’s complemented by attractive brass knobs and switches located on the top control panel . From left to right we have the following elements: 3.5mm auxiliary input, a source button, knobs for volume, bass and treble (with indicator LEDs); a play/track browse button and a large power switch. Meanwhile, on the back are the rest of the ports of this speaker, but we will delve into them later.

Despite looking luxurious, the Marshall Woburn III is actually made from PVC-free construction (70% recycled plastic and only vegan materials), so it’s somewhat of a sustainable product.

With all that said, this is a bulky speaker, measuring 400 x 317 x 203mm and weighing in at over 7 kilograms , so think carefully about where to put it. In another order of ideas, it is not waterproof, but that is not important in view of its purpose. Again, the Marshall Emberton II is a better option for those who require a speaker that can get wet and dirty.

Sound and features

Sound from this speaker is courtesy of a 90W Class D bass amp , while the mids are handled by a pair of 15W Class D amps . Finally, another pair of 15W amplifiers (class D) take care of the treble. In addition, the Woburn III’s onboard drivers are highly capable and can drive kick drums even at low volumes due to the system’s bass-advancing digital signal processing (DSP).

With that in mind, this speaker has an excellent frequency response (35–20,000 Hz) , making it ideal for listening to different types of content, as an incentive, it is possible to adjust the bass and treble depending on what we are listening to. listening.

As if that weren’t enough, Marshall’s Dynamic Loudness feature  ensures that our perception of frequency response remains unchanged even when listening at lower volumes. Speaking of volume, this speaker is powerful enough to fill large rooms or rooms with sound, and on top of that without distortion, unless of course you turn the volume all the way up, but even in those circumstances it’s minimal and doesn’t happen with all speakers. songs.

For its part, the soundstage is not bad for the class of speaker with which we are dealing, but it is more narrow than directional.

Another aspect of the Marshall Woburn III that could be improved is its codec support. In this sense, it only supports Low-Resolution Codecs (SBC) when used wirelessly, which is a shame coming from a speaker that can pack a punch.

Connectivity and application

Connectivity options are not lacking with the Marshall Woburn III, we can connect it via 3.5m auxiliary input or through RCA. Similarly, if we want to connect it to our TV, there is an HDMI ARC input for that purpose.

At the wireless level, it only supports Bluetooth 5.2 , which is enough and more than enough for a speaker of this category. With that in mind, when it is connected to our mobile or tablet we can take advantage of the Marshall Bluetooth application to control the speaker. We can, for example, adjust the bass and treble, change the sound source and use night mode to balance the volume level when connected to the TV.

However, it lacks a graphic equalizer for more advanced sound adjustment, so it’s not all rosy.

PROS

• Audio is excellent, particularly the bass
• luxury design
• HDMI and RCA connections
• Discrete Bass and Treble controls

CONS

• Does not support AAC codec
• no graphic equalizer
• High price
• There is a little distortion at maximum volume

 

Marshall Woburn III Specifications: