Marshall’s approach to its speakers has been an interesting one in the last couple of years - defaulting very much to the classic “if it ain’t broke” mindset.
That’s pretty much fair enough when it comes to the design side of things. After all, Marshall’s grilles and logos are rightly iconic. Minor refreshes are always welcome, though, and that’s what the Acton III represents - a small improvement to a great speaker.
Our quick take
Marshall has played it pretty safe with the Acton III - perhaps a little too safe. To be clear, this is a superbly built speaker that feels like an ideal size for loads of people’s homes in a range of rooms.
It sounds fabulous and is incredibly easy to use, with on-speaker controls that are tactile and satisfying. However, given it’s a mains-powered speaker, we find it a little odd that it comes without any Wi-Fi connectivity at this point, and at this price. That simplicity will work for some people, but could equally put a few others off.
Marshall Acton III
This is a great speaker on its own terms, and for anyone who wants a simple, classic-looking speaker in their life. Where things get a little tougher for Marshall is on the features side of things - it’s a pretty bare bones offering.We’re sure its excellent design and superb build quality will mean it finds fans, but those who want a bit more connectivity from their speakers might need to look elsewhere.
Marshall’s design language is a pretty fixed one, as mentioned above, so its speakers don’t really look drastically different from each other.
However, that’s firstly no bad thing. There’s an industrial, classic quality to its use of grilles that absolutely stands the test of time, with the classic Marshall logo almost always front and centre.
This is the picture for the Acton III, then, but it wears it well. This isn’t a tiny speaker, but it’s small enough to nonetheless fit onto a bookshelf with ease, or sit on a surface without dominating it. Any bigger and that would become a stretch.
It’s available in black, cream and brown, but as with basically every Marshall speaker, we like it best in its most classic version - so black’s the one.
Where the Acton III takes things up a notch, as its earlier versions did too, is in terms of controls. Atop the speaker is an array of some of the most satisfying physical control options we’ve used on a speaker in memory.
Classic dials let you control your volume, treble and bass levels, while a clever control knob takes care of pausing and skipping tracks. The star of the show is a protruding brass switch - to turn the Acton III on and off.
It’s basically the best switch we’ve touched in years, rigid and well-built, mechanical and enormously satisfying, and while it might not change how you use the speaker, these sorts of experiential details are massive for user satisfaction.
Sound quality
Where a Marshall speaker really comes into its own, of course, is when it’s switched on and pumping out music, preferably at a room-filling volume.
Marshall says that the reason it’s even made a third Acton speaker is to accommodate a total re-engineering of its soundstage.
New tweeters are better angled to throw out sound upwards and outwards, while a new Dynamic Loudness system actually adjusts your audio on the fly to retain a balance that should make easier listening.
We can’t say we necessarily heard Dynamic Loudness in any sort of game-changing capacity, but we can definitely report that the Acton III is a seriously lovely bit of audio kit.
It has the booming volume that some might want - especially those attracted to Marshall’s heritage for wild live acts and crashing late-night sound. However, it’s not out of balance or overtaken by any one range.
This makes for a chunky-feeling bass performance that can really be appreciated on more layered tracks, but which stays in proportion carefully to avoid overpowering things.
Of course, with those control dials on top of the speaker, on-the-fly adjustments are also way easier than with the majority of modern wireless speakers, which is always nice if you do fancy a bit of a tweak.
The speaker is distinctly forward-facing, so even with its new soundstage you don’t want to be chucking it on a table in the middle of a room - there’s a woofer on the back, and it feels designed to sit against a wall in the majority of use cases.
That’s fine, in our books - most speakers fit that categorisation, so engineering one to work as such is perfectly sensible.
While it is sized such that you might think it would have some form of battery, the Acton III is emphatically a mains-powered speaker, so that should be a factor if you’re thinking of picking it up.
So, there’s no question of battery life to cover, and other than the sound improvements we detailed above, the Acton III actually doesn’t bring a whole lot of innovation to the table.
It’s a Bluetooth-only speaker, using the recent 5.2 version of the technology to offer really reliable connections that stood strong over decent distances in our testing.
There is also the option of a 3.5mm input for those who want an analogue backup, with the wire plugging in right on top of the speaker.
Since it’s only Bluetooth, there’s nothing fancy here like Apple AirPlay 2 or Google Cast - and that’s a bit of a miss, to be honest.
After all, back in 2020 theUxbridgeshowed that Marshall could master this stuff, and while Bluetooth is easy and works with almost everything, it’s still sometimes a bit more of a faff.
On the positive side, though, pairing was consistently quick and painless, with Marshall’s app serving as a decent go-between for some quick changes and settings tweaking.
Ultimately, if you’re looking for a simple speaker that doesn’t have many frills on it, the Acton III is certainly that. However those searching for something to integrate into a smart home or multi-room setup will want to look elsewhere.
