Marshall today is out with its latest speaker, bridging the gap between its usual room-filling at-home speakers and the more portable, battery-powered offerings. With a perfect name like the Middleton, Marshall’s latest speaker comes backed by the usual retro amp design, a build comprised of recycled plastics, over 20 hours of playback per charge, and the brand’s usual unmatched audio fidelity.
Marshall Middleton arrives as a new portable speaker
Marshall makes some of our favorite audio gear at 9to5Toys, and today the company is out with the latest addition to its lineup. Arriving with a name that could in no way be more fitting to describe where the speaker lands in the greater lineup, the new Marshall Middleton sits between the brand’s usual lineup of at-home speakers and some of the more recent and portable offerings we’ve been reviewing as of late.
Everything comes centered around Marshall’s usual fixation on retro design, with a vinyl-wrapped exterior that pairs with IP67 water resistance. It has the same classic amp look that we’ve come to expect from all of its gear, as well as a built-in strip for carrying while on-the-go.
Something about the design that does break the mold from the company’s usual offerings is the materials. This time around, the Middleton is made of 55% post-consumer recycled plastic. While you won’t be able to tell from just how stylish the speaker is, it comes with little bits of everything from used electronics to water bottles, automotive light covers, and tons of other suppliers of plastic waste. Marshall also backs the release with a 100% PVC-free build, too.
But we’re talking about a speaker after all, and the internal sound array is just what you’d expect from Marshall. It rocks a quad speaker setup backed by the brand’s multi-directional stereo sound feature that it calls True Stereophonic. That internal sound system earns the Middleton the title of Marshall’s heaviest speaker, too, with some of the usual playback controls built in as physical knobs on the top of the device. There’s a pair of 20W Class D amplifiers for the two internal woofers, as well as a matching set of 10W Class D amplifiers for the tweeters to round out the package.
Pricing is also what you’d expect for a middle-of-the-road speaker like the Marshall Middleton. it’s priced at $299.99 and is currently expected to begin arriving in the first week of February. For comparison, it clocks in with a more affordable price tag than the Acton III’s $280, which is the entry-level, at-home speaker in the lineup. But the new release is also more expensive than the other portable offerings in the lineup, too.
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