Marshall Kilburn III Review: Classic Rock Bluetooth Speaker

The strange thing about this jump in strength is that it does not equate to battery capacity. The Kilburn II comes with a 5,200 mAh cell, while the new model is only 5% larger: 5,500 mAh. Obviously, some efficiencies have been achieved. In fact, Marshall is so optimistic about the Kilburn III’s power sources that it now allows you to charge your devices through the speaker’s USB-C port.

Note: The method of payment depends on the status of Kilburn. When the speaker is turned on, the charging goes out to the phones and other devices. However, when the power is off, the speaker will remove the power from them. Kilburn won’t automatically turn off when a USB device is plugged in, but if you turn it off manually (or plug in a device while it’s off), your phone will power off instead of charging.

To help extend the life of the battery, you can enable up to three saving schemes in the Marshall app: set the maximum charge to 90 percent, adjust the charging speed in hot and cold conditions, and shutdown charging speed whenever connected to power. When the battery finally dies, the access door at the bottom of the cabinet makes it easy to replace. First, you will need to disassemble the entire speaker.

Unfortunately, Marshall doesn’t include a 30-watt USB-C PD power adapter, which you’ll need to either quick-charge the Kilburn (20 minutes gives about eight additional hours of playtime) or fully recharge the speaker (about three hours). Maybe that’s because Marshall doesn’t want you to use a power charger as your primary power source, and actually warns against it in the app.

However, low power chargers will slow down the process significantly; a standard 5 watt charger can take 22 hours to fully charge. A 10-bar LED battery gauge on the top panel makes it easy to keep track of how things are going, so you can tell when it’s really running low.

Sound Quality

This speaker sounds great for its size and price. It won’t rock your house party single-handedly (it sounds decent but doesn’t wake up in your neighborhood), but it has a certain level of bass resonance that I usually associate with larger units, and decent balance across the frequency range. Distortion is very well controlled; even with the volume turned up, Billie Eilish’s “bad guy” only revealed that she was too big for the show. I noticed a slight loss of mid-high detail, combined with a harsh high-end presentation. It’s seen more in strong female songs like Adele’s “Skyfall.”

The Marshall app by Simon Cohen

Thankfully, there are plenty of tweaks available to produce a mix that suits your taste. Inside Marshall’s silver-icon Bluetooth app (not to be confused with the gold-icon Marshall Wi-Fi app), you’ll find five EQ presets (Marshall’s auto-tune and four others), as well as the ability to create your own using a five-band equalizer. The “M” button on the top panel of the Kilburn III allows you to switch between the Marshall tuning and another single preset of your choice.
If this isn’t enough, you can mock up the speaker’s dedicated bass and scrolling knobs for more range (or just use them on their own).

Marshall’s driver arrangement, which places a full-range transducer in the front and rear, makes it more versatile in terms of placement than conventional front-firing speakers. Marshall’s claim of full, 360-degree sound is accurate: place the Kilburn III in the center of your space and there isn’t a bad seat in the house. On the other hand, placing it in a corner or near a wall will affect the sound, so there are a few placement changes in the app that can help the speaker compensate, to some extent.

Only Stereo Type

Photo: Simon Cohen

The product’s claim of “stereophonic” sound should be taken with a grain of salt. The Kilburn III reproduces both left and right channels—so, technically, it’s stereo—but you won’t get true stereo separation. Instead, you can think of it as a single point sound source with a very flexible footprint.