Marshall Stanmore IV Review

For this fourth-generation Stanmore, Marshall brings one of its most emblematic models up to date. The speaker unsurprisingly retains the styling inspired by the brand's amplifiers, while modernising the formula with a customisable button, Bluetooth connectivity that supports Auracast, and a design that makes it easier to place close to a wall.

Beneath the retro look, the Stanmore IV also promises a more ambitious sound. Marshall claims a wider soundstage, better stereo separation and cleaner bass thanks to reworked tweeters, waveguides and bass-reflex port. It became available in July 2026.

The reported test used firmware version 1.1.2 and version 1.3.1 of the Marshall app.

Aesthetically, almost nothing changes compared with the third Stanmore. The Stanmore IV reuses the same distinctive shell made up of a textured imitation-leather covering, a salt-and-pepper front grille and brass trim recalling the brand's classic amplifiers. The one notable difference at the front is the brass ring running all the way around the acoustic grille, where the Stanmore III had a brass bar only along the bottom of the grille.

It is at the back and underneath that the structure has changed. The connections and the port have gone from the rear panel, and the Stanmore IV now houses all of that beneath the cabinet, which makes it easier to position the speaker against a wall.

The dimensions remain very similar at 20.3 x 35 x 18.5 cm, against 18.8 cm of depth on the Stanmore III. This fourth version is lighter, though, at 3.99 kg compared with 4.25 kg for its predecessor.

Unlike its rivals, Marshall has decided to skip wifi connectivity here and rely solely on a Bluetooth chip for wireless streaming. The connection proved entirely stable and handles up to two sources simultaneously, but it involves 175 ms of latency.

Without wifi, the Stanmore IV goes without a long list of connected features. There is no way to add it to a multiroom network, to stream music over AirPlay, Google Cast or Spotify Connect, or to control the speaker by voice through Alexa or Google Assistant.

Marshall does offer one route to a multiroom system at home. Using the Heddon network player, sold separately, several Marshall speakers can be linked so that they play the same music over an Auracast connection. It would have been preferable for that solution, or a wifi chip, to be built into the speaker directly rather than requiring a second purchase.

There is also a set of physical connections, made up of a 3.5 mm input on the top of the speaker and an RCA line input that makes it easy to connect a turntable, for example.

Without connected features, the Stanmore does go without certain advanced settings, but it has the merit of being very simple to use. The control panel is one of the most pleasant of its kind; the rotary controls and the power switch are very satisfying to operate. Added to those are a button to manage sources, another for playback and, new to this generation, a customisable M button that switches between equalisation profiles or launches a Spotify playlist on the fly.

The Marshall app, the one with the gold logo rather than the white one, takes the settings a step further. Available for iOS and Android, it includes a more thorough five-band equaliser with preset profiles, speaker placement settings and the parameters for the M button. Volume and source switching can also be handled from the app. The media player has disappeared, however.

The Stanmore IV uses an architecture similar to its predecessor, with a central woofer handling bass and midrange reproduction and two tweeters for the treble. That stereo configuration is joined by a bass-reflex port placed underneath the cabinet.

It has to be said straight away that, despite the new waveguides and the promise of better stereo separation, the Stanmore IV does no better than its predecessor at dividing the left and right channels. The stereo image is simply indistinguishable, and it is impossible to identify which instruments are playing on the left and which on the right. The speaker does appear to benefit from greater openness and less constrained directivity than before.

Measurement clearly shows the automatic loudness equalisation that manages bass and treble levels according to the volume setting.

On sound performance, no real differences emerged between this generation and the previous model. The bass is slightly cleaner but still far too present at the default setting. Dropping it two or three notches is advisable for a better balance. Once that is done, the presentation is more agreeable without losing depth or impact. The Stanmore IV also offers a good level of detail, more than respectable dynamics and a fairly extraordinary amount of energy given its size.

It would have been welcome for Marshall to pay more attention to the midrange and treble, which are still not models of precision. The speaker copes reasonably well with clean, finely chiselled music, but it has far more difficulty with dense tracks or those rich in harmonics. Heavily saturated guitars, for instance, can sound rather too aggressive, which is ironic for a Marshall product. That lack of precision unfortunately worsens as the volume rises: past roughly 70 per cent of maximum volume, which is already a particularly high level, the speaker's signature becomes hard to bear.

A final word on the placement compensation settings. These simply apply low-frequency equalisation according to where the speaker sits in the room, to avoid excessive bass reverberation. More bass on the edge of a unit, less against a wall or in a corner.

The Stanmore IV operates in a market where most of its rivals now rely on wifi and multiroom features. The JBL Authentics 200 is far more versatile thanks to AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect and both Alexa and Google Assistant. It also offers a more balanced presentation and genuine channel separation, despite imperfect precision and some intrusive vibration.

The Audio Pro C5 MKII is an interesting alternative for anyone who prioritises tonal balance, a wider soundstage and a broad variety of streaming protocols. The Sonos Era 100 goes further still on the connected experience and multiroom, while offering more precise midrange after TruePlay calibration. The Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker stands out for its immersive character and its modularity, since it can work on its own, as a stereo pair or as a surround speaker. All three of those models are more compact and less demonstrative than the Marshall.

The Klipsch The Three Plus is ultimately its closest rival in spirit. It shares with the Stanmore IV a premium build, retro styling and connectivity limited to Bluetooth, but it benefits from a distinctly richer set of physical inputs including optical, USB-C, RCA line and phono. Its softer, more balanced presentation nonetheless lacks scale and drive. The Marshall therefore keeps the advantage on ergonomics and sonic energy, but it looks less versatile than almost all of its connected rivals.