When you’re in the mood to enjoy your favorite tunes, either because you’re home alone with chores to do or you’ve got a group of friends over for a party, one of the better options I’ve discovered for filling the entire room with sound is a Marshall Woburn III Bluetooth Speaker.
I’ve long advocated for Marshall’s superior sound quality when it comes to household speakers, and the brand’s Woburn III Bluetooth speaker lends substantial upgrades compared against the last-generation Woburn II that you’ll certainly want to know about if you fancy great-sounding music.
Timeless aesthetics
In addition to great sound quality, Marshall’s speakers also tend to evoke a classic electric guitar amplifier vibe that many appreciate because of its great looks. The aesthetics pair nicely with the speaker’s hefty size at 15.75 inches x 12.48 inches x 7.99 inches and weighing 6.42 pounds.
The Woburn III’s look and feel complements any room, especially that of a man cave where you’re likely to find a guitar or two sitting beside a gaming PC and other essential toys.
Available in two different colors including a cream white and a dark black, Marshall’s Woburn III Bluetooth speaker is wrapped in a durable material that the company says is now comprised of up to 70% recycled plastic and vegan materials.
As you look all around the speaker, you can’t help but notice the brass trim that surrounds the controls at the top of the unit:
Those controls include:
- A 3.5mm headphone jack
- A source selector for changing between:
- A volume knob
- A treble knob
- A bass knob
- A play/pause button
- A skip backward/forward knob
- A tactile power switch
On the rear of the unit are some more I/O:
Here, you will find:
- An air port
- RCA ports
- HDMI port
- Power port
Features & functionality
While most of the controls and I/O outlined above are to be expected from a speaker, one peculiar input you’ll notice is HDMI. As it turns out, the Marshall Woburn III supports HDMI ARC, which means you can stream the audio output of your television directly to the speaker while watching shows or movies if your television supports HDMI ARC.
And here’s another cool thing about that HDMI ARC support: Marshall says they’ve included a ‘night mode’ feature that helps tone down excessively loud noises coming from your television programs so that anyone else in your house won’t be disturbed when they’re trying to sleep. Quieter sounds will remain fully audible.
Outside of traditional music listening, this is just one more interesting way for users to get more out of their investment, as the Marshall Woburn III easily sounds nicer than any flat-screen television’s built-in speakers ever would, and that’s because of the size of the speaker’s internal drivers and the fine-tuned audio quality. The speaker even dampens vibrations with its sturdy rubberized feet:
But beside wired connections, one place where the Marshall Woburn III really shines is its Bluetooth connectivity. Leveraging next-generation Bluetooth 5.2 and LE Audio capabilities, you’ll quickly find that the Woburn III hardly lags like other Bluetooth speakers do, and it’s also incredibly power efficient.
Underneath all that skin is a respectable three-way driver system that delivers crisp room-shaking audio. Those include a 90W Class D amplifier for the woofer, two 15W Class D amplifiers for the mids, and two 15W Class D amplifiers for the tweeters. Marshall says you can expect a frequency range of 35-20,000 Hz from the Woburn III, and that it boasts a maximum sound pressure level of 100.5 dB from 1 meter away.
According to Marshall, they’ve carefully angled the tweeters in the Woburn III in such a way and installed wave guides that help any sound emitted by this speaker to ‘chase you around the room.’
I’ve skimmed through the speaker’s entire volume range with different sounds and found myself stunned by just how little distortion I heard. There was virtually none – indicative of a high-quality audio system that has been carefully tuned.
Smart software
Unlike a lot of Bluetooth speakers out there, Marshall goes all out. They provide a free app via the App Store that you can use to pair your iPhone with the Woburn III speaker, and more than that, you can use the app to customize your speaker experience.
From the app, you can control a lot of the same things that you can already change with the hardware-based controls at the top of the unit, such as the volume, bass level, treble level, and more.
The app also serves as the hub by which you will update the Marshall Woburn III’s firmware. So whenever Marshall drops a software update to improve the speaker’s sound or connectivity performance, the app will let you know and guide you through the firmware updating process, which takes only a few minutes.
I find that the app is highly convenient for controlling the speaker remotely, and thanks to being on my iPhone that I already keep in my pocket, I don’t need to carry a secondary remote around with me when I use my Marshall Woburn III to entertain me or some guests.
My thoughts on the Marshall Woburn III
I’ve spent a lot of time with the Marshall Woburn III since procuring one, and I’ve used it for things such as filling the room with sound when watching movies, jamming to music while cleaning, and adding personality to my man cave. Lots of my friends have already seen it and commented about how much they like the design.
I’ve compiled a short list of pros and cons below that I think really encapsulate the Marshall Woburn III user experience:
Pros:
- An incredibly good-looking speaker
- Sound quality is 9/10 with little to no distortion
- Intuitive user controls, both physical and app-based
- Advanced Bluetooth 5.2 & LE connectivity
- Fully powered speaker with no batteries to die on you
- Lots of I/O options, including HDMI ARC with ‘night mode’
- That tactile on/off switch feels so good to use
Cons:
- Speaker may be too large and heavy for some users
- App required to pair Bluetooth with iPhone
- No microphone or voice command functionality
- Somewhat costly
Where to get one
If you’re interested in a Marshall Woburn III speaker of your own, then you can acquire one from Amazon with free Prime shipping or from Marshall’s website directly for $580 shipped. Both options provide free returns if you’re dissatisfied for any reason.
If that price seems steep, which we would totally understand, then Amazon might be the right way to go. We often see the retailer providing discounts on the Marshall Woburn III speaker, as well as great deals on “Used – Very Good” products that you can bet come pre-broken in by the previous user, which can save you money.
Note: Purchases made on this page help support iDB. We may earn a small commission when you purchase through links on our site.
Conclusion
The Marshall Woburn III speaker checks a lot of boxes in terms of home entertainment. It’s not meant to be a portable speaker by any means, but if you’re frequently listening to music at home or trying to connect your television to a better-sounding speaker that looks good enough to be a part of your home furniture, then this might be just what you’re looking for.
I’m personally so happy with it that I added one of these to my home, and I have no doubt any audiophile who loves both good sound and a nice-looking speaker would feel the same.