The Marshall Acton is a fantastic looking little Bluetooth speaker, styled to replicate the infamous Marshall guitar speakers. Will it fall short and be all looks, or will it go all the way to 11?
We recently got the Marshall Acton (not ACTION) in stock here at Richer Sounds, and I was eager to get it up and running to see if Marshall had sold themselves short and just slapped their name onto a generic piece of Chinese plastic, or if some actual thought process had been involved when making this. The build quality lead me to believe it was the latter, it has all the trademark Marshall details, from the vintage-looking front fret to gold coloured metal knobs and dials, and even a faux leather exterior which looks fantastic. In Marshall’s words, it certainly seems to have inherited all the family traits, which is fantastic news.
I didn’t want to bother starting off with my usual demo tracks to try and get a grasp of what the detail is like, I wanted something to push the Acton for what I hoped it was designed for. I put on AC/DC Thunderstruck and pushed the volume right up, and I was pleasantly surprised. For a small unit, it didn’t half pack a punch. I was not expecting such volume at all. If you push the unit to the very limit there is a large amount of obvious distortion, which I half expected, and so, much to my dismay, I had to turn it down for the sake of the product, but I was still very impressed. The details were clean and crisp, but I did feel they were a little overshadowed by the amount of bass the Acton creates, but alas, that was no issue. Unlike many other Bluetooth speakers, the Acton has dirty great big tonal control dials on the top, which are just fantastic. I didn’t realise how much I missed having that level of control over my music. I found myself constantly messing. It’s probably more of a gimmick than anything but I was having a great time.
With all the Marshall style and sonic signature but in miniature, the Marshall Acton punches well above its weight.
After a good 15 minutes of ear-busting music, I thought it best I put on my sensible review hat and see how well the Acton handles lower volumes with something a little more low-key. I popped on Twenty One Pilots’ Heathens from the Suicide Squad soundtrack (which is incredible), and that punchy level detail I mentioned earlier still remained sharp and crisp. The bass became less of a thud and more of a warm reassuring rounded sound. Not to my liking, but everybody has different taste.
I swiftly got bored of this and shoved on some Killswitch Engage. Much better.
The Marshall Acton is a beautiful piece of kit and it sounds fantastic, but in true Marshall spirit, it’s much more suited towards a heavier style of music. It didn’t struggle with some mild foot tapping background music, but isn’t the whole point of Marshall to turn it all the way up?
To find out more about the Marshall Acton, click here.
Author: Dave, Bath
