Marshall Kilburn III Review

Design

• Marshall’s patented style
• Upgraded IP54 protection
• Three finishes

Of all the Marshall outdoor speakers, the Kilburn III is the one that genuinely looks and feels like one of its guitar amplifiers.

The minimalist yet bold styling suits the Kilburn III’s size and shape better than that of the rest of Marshall’s outdoor speakers. I love the knobs and switches as the Kilburn III really leans into Marshall’s musical heritage, giving this speaker a totally different vibe than most ‘normal’ Bluetooth speakers outside of the Orange Amp speakers.

But its size, shape and heft do push the limit of a portable speaker. It comes with a lovely velvet inlaid carry strap, but this is a big and wide unit that tips the scales at 2.8kg. Rather than a grab-and-go speaker, this is more of a speaker to haul out for a small outdoor gathering.

There are nice little touches with the flick switch for powering the speaker on and off, plus a battery readout. The ‘M’ button constitutes as the playback button with Bluetooth pairing below. You’ve got control knobs for volume, bass and treble – as there are on pretty much all Marshall speakers – and they all light up with red LEDs that add to the aesthetic.

With an IP54 rating, the speaker is covered against dust plus splashes from any direction, though that doesn’t mean it’s fully waterproof. Build quality feels robust, though there aren’t many details on what the Kilburn III is made from aside from using recycled materials.

The Black and Brass finish is the standard one, but there’s also a Cream version that looks even better and a very distinctive brown version. There’s a bass port around the rear, which implies this isn’t just a speaker for the outdoors, with indoor usage another use case (with the speaker set against a wall) to reinforce its bass performance.

Wired connections include an increasingly rare aux input on outdoor speakers, plus USB-C to charge the Kilburn III and other devices, but not play audio through it.

Battery Life

• 50+ hours claimed
• Quick charging
• Replaceable battery

Marshall’s claims for the Kilburn III are considerable at 50+ hours, though like with most outdoor speakers, it’s a figure that needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.

In my tests, playing a Spotify playlist through the speaker at 50% volume, the Kilburn III fell 7% over two hours.

That’s great but it suggests battery life in the region of 30+ hours, and though I don’t doubt Marshall’s figures, I’m inclined to believe you’ll need to play audio at a lower volume to reach those levels of stamina. Crank up the volume and expect battery life to go in the opposite direction.

As mentioned above, the Kilburn III can act as a powerbank for other devices. It takes three hours to fill the tank up from zero, while a 20-minute charge adds another eight hours of playback. The caveat is that it needs a 30W USB-C PD charging cable. The battery is also replaceable should you ever need to swap it out.

Features

• Auracast
• Marshall app
• True Stereophonic sound

The Marshall Kilburn III connects over a Bluetooth 5.3 connection and I’ve had no issues with it. Putting the speaker at one of a garden and walking away from it, the signal didn’t come close to breaking up. Bluetooth streaming supports SBC, AAC and LC3.

There’s Auracast support, which the Emberton III also features, and it means you can group multiple Marshall speakers together for one big sound. Through the Marshall app, you can tune into an Auracast broadcast if you’re in a public space, but the uptake of Auracast has been slow. This feature is currently in beta form, so Marshall probably thinks it won’t get much use in the near future.

Marshall’s True Stereophonic 360-degree sound has been added. With it, Marshall claims it can offer the same spread of sound wherever you stand or sit in relation to the speaker, so the performance is always consistent.

The app offers a simple equaliser to alter the sound, with a selection of presets as well. There’s Placement Compensation, which I’ve not seen on a Marshall portable speaker before, that adjusts the sound based on where the speaker is placed.

The M button can be customised, but only to make it an EQ button. That seems a waste, but the Kilburn III doesn’t carry with it many features per se.

The Battery Preservation mode allows you to change the maximum charge, temperature at which the speaker charges, charging speed and other settings to help the Kilburn III last for longer.

Sound Quality

• Warm, smooth sound
• Goes loud
• Not the most energetic

It’s immediately apparent that even at 50% volume, the Marshall Kilburn III loves to make a noise. If you were to lower the volume you’d still get a good sound, and I reckon the 50+ battery life would be within reach as well.

Giving the size of the speaker, I give Warren G’s Regulate a go to hear how it handles the bass, and it’s solid. It can’t reproduce the track’s sub-bass, but it’s a warm and weighty performance.

With Labrinth’s All For Us, the bass response is again solid, the bassline reproduced with decent energy but I do feel the Kilburn III doesn’t go particularly deep with the lows. It’s deep enough to provide some bassy texture and energy, but I think for a speaker of its size, I’d expect bass that’s a bit bigger.

It is solidly balanced across the frequency range. It’s a warm sound, smooth with vocals and bass that doesn’t get in the way of vocal clarity. Highs are a little rich in tone but carry plenty of clarity and detail, though I wonder if they could be slightly brighter.

The soundstage is spacious, even if it never really expands beyond the borders of the speaker. With GoGo Penguin’s Ascent, there’s a nice warmth to the punch of percussion – the tuning of the speaker is a likeable one.

Because of the warmth of the sound, it’s not the sharpest or most detailed, but it avoids sounding sibilant. However, it’s not the most dynamic, nor is it the most energetic.

Tracks like Bodyrox’s Yeah Yeah suffer a little – the Bose SoundLink Max offers more energy, with the Kilburn III a little more controlled and balanced.

But there’s nothing wrong with consistency, and the Kilburn III is a fun listen with its smooth and clear sound across every track I play.

I’m less convinced about Marshall’s True Stereophonic feature. I’ve found with other Marshall speakers that it always sounded best head-on. While there’s a front and back to the soundstage with this speaker, the sides just feel like you’re getting the wash of sound from the front and back rather than actually emanating from the sides. The sweet spot is still sitting directly in front of or behind the speaker.

Should you buy it?