Marshall Woburn III 150W Wireless Home Bluetooth Speaker

I am a 63 year old music and sound enthusiast. I go back to the days of Marantz or pioneer and Fisher receivers with Altec Lancing speakers. Harmon Kardon was big back then too. My idea of good sound is when I am hearing the instruments produce music as if I’m sitting in the audience. Sadly, so many of our songs today have been re- engineered in the studio with the emphasis on being loud vs letting the instruments express themselves untouched. So let’s get to the speaker. My first impression unboxing this product was that the boxes seal had been broken. Was this a returned product? Secondly, the speaker surface looked ‘weathered’. It was whitish looking on some parts of the black surface. I had some old English polish that immediately made the speaker look brand new. Actually, the slightly weathered look told me that the unit had been sitting in the Warehouse for a long time. It was not used. I’m ok with that. The unit must be plugged in to work. Connecting my devices to this speaker was a breeze. No ‘ retry’ or ‘ failed to connect’ nonsense. It works!
My first impression is that this thing gets loud. Many reviews regarding this speaker has to do with how loud this speaker gets. Good for young people. Bad for me. I want my speaker to be EFFICIENT. Meaning at low volume I still get a full musical fidelity experience. On this criteria this speaker gets an A!!!!
I can enjoy my music without it being LOUD. Sorry I’m 63….lol lol.
The bass is smooth, clear and unmuffled. It almost responds as a subwoofer when those really deep synthesiser bass notes are needed from a Moog type piano player. Lol…
Giving away my age again. You will be very happy with the bass on this speaker. I give the bass reproduction an A! The midrange speakers has punch. I believe this speaker has built in amplifiers that pushes that sound out in a hurry. I give the midrange dound an A! Now to the tweeters. This is a sore spot for me. Between Dolby technology and this modern day emphasis on ” noise reduction”, it’s usually the tweeters that suffer. At first I was disappointed with the high notes on this speaker. Then I realized that most of today’s modern music, even some jazz, have been re- engineered in the studio to be loud coupled with noise reduction technology that can make the end product of a nice song rich in symbols and high notes….. flat and disappointing. I had to go to classical and easy listening type songs to test the high notes on this unit. These genres are usually a little less tampered with in the sound mixing studio before we hear the finished product or song. I give the tweeters a B in my evaluation. It’s definitely good but I feel the bass and midrange speakers are better at what they do than the tweeters. Remember good will satisfy 95% of your quest and listening audience.

Conclusion: The speaker screams quality and looks very different. Traditional. A throw back to the days of wearing your bell bottoms and platform shoes…lol. the sound separation is superb. The sound is NOT muddy or boxy. Turn it up and you get that concert feel right in your own living room. The app for this speaker is ok. You can control the treble or bass or even adjust the speaker acoustics based on the location of your speaker. Mine is by a wall . So I made the adjustment in the app. I recommend this speaker!

The Woburn III powered-speaker by Marshall produces surprisingly enjoyable audio quality for its class. It is considered semi-portable and plugs into the wall. A battery and charger would increase size, weight, cost, and complexity that would only detract from its performance. Purchased Jan-Twenty-Twenty-Four.

According to the Woburn III spec sheet:
Bluetooth 5.2
Frequency range: 35 Hz to 20 kHz.
(1) 90W amp for the subwoofer, including a passive bass port in the cabinet.
(4) 15W amps for the left & right mid-range & tweeters.

The lowest useful frequency on my Woburn III unit is 32 Hz, rivaling sub woofers costing several times more. More on frequency testing later.

UNBOXING: My Dell PC recognized the Woburn’s Bluetooth signal instantly. I was playing music in less than 60 seconds.

The brief but clear USER MANUAL is only available online, although not necessarily required because operation is very intuitive. Grandma could set it up.

MEDIA CONTROL BUTTON:
Left = backward one track, hold for fast-backward
Right = forward one track, hold for fast-forward
Single Push = pause

(4) INPUT SOURCES:
Bluetooth
Aux (3.5 mm conveniently on top)
RCA Jacks (Yeah!)
HDMI (ARC & eARC).
The Woburn conveniently remembers the selected input SOURCE.

BLUETOOTH via CELL PHONE:
1. Download Marshall’s phone app from Google. The dreaded “I Agree” statement’s default choice claims it only interrogates my phone for product improvements. Fair enough.
2. Launch the Marshall app on the phone.
3. Confirm the Woburn SOURCE LED indicates Bluetooth.
4. Push and hold the SOURCE button until the Bluetooth LED flashes.
5. Select “Woburn III” on the phone app before the SOURCE LED stops flashing.
6. Done.

The Woburn III sounds so good over Bluetooth I decided to run a comparison test. The same music file was synchronized on my PC and my phone, then switched back and forth between the RCA inputs (a Dell PC with a standalone audio DAC) and the phone’s Bluetooth (v5.2). Both devices use the Foobar2000 music app.

A subtle audio quality loss was detectable using Bluetooth, but only when playing an exceptionally well-mastered CD (Diana Krall) that was ripped directly to a loss-less file format (i.e., a CD WAV file transcoded directly to a FLAC file). Songs mastered with less precision are not crisp enough to notice a difference over Bluetooth, despite being ripped in the same manner.

This simple test indicates the inherent audio quality of the Woburn III is sophisticated enough to reveal Bluetooth’s shortcomings. (Wirelessly transferring data and music are entirely different technical challenges.)

I have never used Bluetooth for music, so forgive the next few paragraphs. Bluetooth technology has evolved significantly from the early days of iPods, poor wireless band-width, and primitive file compression algorithms.

Woburn III can be paired with multiple Bluetooth devices simultaneously. If Device A is playing, Device B cannot play until Device A is Paused. Repeat as desired.

Accidentally pushed the Woburn’s SOURCE button and goofed up the Bluetooth link? Simply reselect Bluetooth, wait for Woburn to emit two alert tones that occur several seconds apart, then select play on the phone device.

Woburn III enters Network Standy after about 10 minutes without an input signal. All panel LED’s turn off except the SOURCE LED.

To Resume Bluetooth mode: wiggle one of Woburn’s three Audio Control knobs, the other LED’s on the control panel wakeup. Woburn emits two tones several seconds apart, then select Play on any previously paired phone device. Cycling the power switch is not the only method to re-establish wireless communication as one reviewer claimed, at least on my unit.

To exit Standy while connected to a wired input: select Play on the wired device, four seconds later Woburn is awake and resumes playing.

AUX OR RCA SOURCES: Changing from an active Bluetooth signal to a line-level input simply requires changing SOURCE to Aux or RCA. Meanwhile, my phone automatically pauses the current song to avoid losing my place in the playlist.

HDMI SOURCE: Connect the TV’s Audio Return Channel (eARC), Woburn immediately responds to the TV’s volume command (even if Woburn is in standby mode). Selecting another Woburn SOURCE plays that input, at which point, my Sony TV re-engages its speakers. Gotta love HDMI technology.
Note: My Sony TV required configuring its Digital Audio Out to PCM. CEMA rated this TV best audio quality for 2021, and is noticeably better than other flat panels, but the Woburn III sounds significantly better. Now I will not need a soundbar and just use the Woburn when better audio quality is desired.

ENERGY CONSUMPTION:
Mid Volume = 8W; Network Standy = 0.37W; Power Switch Off = 0.22W. Zero power consumption requires unplugging the power cord. Annual energy cost in standby mode:
0.37W x 1000 x 24 x 365 = 3.24 kWh x $0.06 = $0.19 per year.

LOW FREQUENCY TESTING:
Unboxing in the kitchen, the initial low frequency sweeps sounded a little dirty. This is a good thing when the first step is silencing cookware resonating in the cupboards, especially from a 16 pound device.

Had to graduate to the audio room to resume sweep testing. Descending from 160 Hz, loudness is a little thin at 113 Hz, increases at 91 Hz, decreases again at 70 Hz, substantially increases from 57 Hz to 34 Hz (the muscle-bound portion), then tapers off to total silence by 26 Hz. My high-end system also varies during sweeps, but not to this degree (in the same room).

To be fair, low-frequency variations are more than the music machine. Wavelength at 141 Hz is 8 feet (ceiling height), typically where undesirable room interactions begin. Longer wavelengths develop standing wave patterns, causing loud and quiet zones, often just one step apart. Proper low-end testing is done outdoors, or in an anechoic test chamber. And, balancing a machine’s low frequency output becomes exponentially more difficult as device size shrinks, again a wavelength issue (and cost).

It appears that Marshall traded a reasonable amount of bass unevenness to include as much of the low frequency spectrum as possible, and succeeded without creating an intolerable situation like other machines in this class.

Note: Hz x wavelength = the speed of sound in air (1,130 feet per sec at 72 F)

TONE CONTROLS: The bass and treble adjustments provide adequate range of authority. However, adjusting the bass knob to the middle of its range often provides too much low-end, primarily for tracks mastered in the early 2000’s during the earbud volume wars. Well-mastered tracks do not experience this issue.

Salvaging bass-heavy songs (due to poor mastering) is possible by reducing the bass tone control knob, which partially cheats the mid-range frequencies, but at least the song is listenable. Fortunately, bass-heavy songs that are well-mastered, such as disco and techno, sound just fine.

The Woburn III’s five Class D amplifiers (one for each speaker) improve bass-heavy songs. As the 90W subwoofer amp works hard processing the bass, the other 4 amps (at higher frequencies) remain unaffected. This “bi-amping” approach imitates the standalone sub-woofer of large systems.

Most Woburn’s competitors lack traditional RCA jacks (big mistake). Woburn III includes RCA jacks, boldly daring a comparison test against expensive equipment and it has nothing to be ashamed of, dollar for dollar.

My friends who think a frequency sweep is a broom claim the Woburn III sounds amazing. Changing audio sources could not be easier and locating the 3.5 mm Aux input on top is genius.

The retro design theme looks great too. Reminds me of Jimi Hendrix using his guitar as an axe. Any left-hander who plays a right-handed guitar upside down can bludgeon his Marshall amp if he wants. Being a musical genius is not always easy.

The Woburn III is clearly an upgrade over a vanilla stereo system or soundbar, and reduces component clutter. Get one for the bedroom, garage, boat, RV, cottage, barbeque, anywhere competent audio quality and flexible connectivity are desired in a portable package. I might purchase another one for the backseat of my limousine.

I rate the Woburn III a solid five stars after six months of evaluation.

I’m 62, love my music! I’ve had lots of speakers over the years. The one prior to this is the Marshall Kilburn II. That sounds great. It was time to upgrade tho. I therefore got a JBL Boombox 3 based on reviews. Unfortunately tho, it just didn’t produce the sound quality I was used to and even the Kilburn II sounded better, just didn’t get as loud. Now, the Woburn III is incredible. The sounds are crisp and clear, and listening to guitar riffs, the strumming is crystal, bass is awesome, and it gets loud. My only criticism is that it does not have a battery and has to be plugged in and has no waterproof or resistant qualities. Still, best sounding Bluetooth speaker, hands down.

The Marshall Woburn III is one Hell of a Speaker… I have 2 Denon Receivers with Klipsch speakers and Klipsch sub woofers and this Marshall blows them away… The sound from this Marshall is phenomenal…. The quality is just unbelievable and to boot it has HDMI… If you’re looking for a sound bar… This is your speaker. Great Bluetooth Speaker. I am some what of an Audiophile and this thing has great balanced sound… treble and bass is fantastic. The Marshall app works great too.

Pros: Sound quality, fit and finish, style.

Con: Something called “Network Standby Mode” whereby speaker shuts off after 10 minutes of inactivity. To turn back on you must hit one of the buttons on top of device or reconnect bluetooth connection. No way to override this “baked in” setting.

Only found out about this from talking to a Marshall service rep. I found dealing with this a hassle as I listen to music sporadically in my office.

In an ideal world, Marshall would update their app & make this a user defined setting.

Otherwise, a wonderful product.

This Marshall speaker is Amazingly Powerful. Cool Retro look with the Marshall logo. Pretty clear in even the loudest setting. Set up very easy too with the Ap. Unfortunately had to Return it due to Amazon price match policy. (Which is none). Amazon makes you return things and repurchase the product to get the better price. Which is nuts. So returned and repurchased at 50 dollars less. Do your resurch if you want this item. It will save you. Hence loss of 2 stars for inconvenience.
Definitely an A plus for the speaker.

I’ve bought many speakers in the past and this as high quality as the best I’ve ever heard. The bass is immersive. The treble and the mids are just incredible and that goes for every genre of music that I have played. It also sounds fantastic connected to my TV, and play station which I did not expect so I was pleasantly surprised. I would rate this on par with any other brand. I have used Sonos for the past 8 years and I don’t feel that I’m missing anything. I rarely write reviews unless something just overwhelms my expectations. The music is rich, bold, and crisp. And it’s was simple to set up. The look of it is very classy and not the focal point of the room (until you crank it up). It’s understated elegance but not flashy but this speaker has some serious depth.

Audio quality is stellar. Very dynamic sound with crisp highs and deep lows. This speaker doesn’t need a subwoofer at all, it basically has its own lol. It’s not going to have the separation that a 5.1 set up has, but for a single compact unit you couldn’t ask for much better. This thing powers my home audio setup. Also it gets crazy loud lol. I only have it on like 15% at home. 20% I’m afraid will get me noise complaints lol.

One of my few gripes is the inconsistency of the 3.5mm headphone jack. Sometimes I have to get it just right to get a good sound. Rare small gripe when I do this. Another gripe is a wish it supported AAC codec but it’s okay.

Ok, I will say this speaker is lovely in every way. It’s beautiful. It’s crisp. It’s lovely in my living room and fills every space with sound. I would give it 5 stars but it gets dinged for its advertising because…

Despite it being titled as a “wireless” speaker, this only refers to its Bluetooth capabilities. It does not have a battery. It will not work unless it is plugged into a wall. It very much is a speaker that requires a wire. Be mindful of this if you think this thing can go anywhere there isn’t an outlet! I feel the title should be updated, because it is kind of deceiving. However, if you’re fine with this puppy being plugged in, it feels like it’s worth your money, isn’t an eye sore, and is so satisfying to use.

I love the look! It’s great for apartment living, the sound is on point, the bass hits like a beast. If you got the funds get it you won’t be disappointed.