Marshall Kilburn II

It can get real loud

The Marshall Kilburn II contains three speakers, each with its own amplifier. The bass speaker has a 20-watt amplifier, and to two tweets are 8 watts each. A total of 36 watts, which according to Marshall can produce a maximum sound pressure of 100.4 dB SPL at a distance of one meter. The low frequencies are routed via the bass reflex from the rear of the speaker. The Kilburn II is multi-host capable, so it can be paired with several devices simultaneously via Bluetooth and supports Bluetooth 5.0 aptX.

For its size, the Kilburn II is one thing above all else: damn loud . I’ve tried a lot of Bluetooth speakers, but none can handle so much pressure as the Kilburn II. So you don’t have to be afraid to turn the knob all the way up, since the sound stays stable and doesn’t overdrive. Full power is no problem for Marshall, and the Kilburn II is easy enough to fill a medium-sized party with sound. That’s quite impressive! Thanks to the multidirectional sound, the whole room will be filled quite evenly.

Less bass is enough

The sound of the Kilburn II is quite warm and you could call the bass heavy, even if the knob isn’t turned up too much. Especially in smaller rooms, you might want to turn the knob down and increase the treble instead. The Marshall audio is still full and powerful. If you use the speaker outdoors, you need the bass to be set to at least 7 or 8 for quality sound.

As you probably already know from other Marshall speakers and headphones, the sound of the Kilburn II isn’t necessarily neutral so might not be suited for all kinds of music. Classical music will lack a little clarity. But if you like rock, metal, punk or folk, you’ll love the sound.

By the way, if you prefer to use a wireless connection instead of Bluetooth, you can go right ahead, since the Kilburn II also has a 3.5 mm AUX port on the back. But if you have to bring a jack cable to connect it. The device only comes with a power cable.

Will last longer than even the best party

The exact capacity of the Kilburn II’s battery is a proud 20 hours or more with one charge .

Manufacturers’ specifications should always be treated with a little caution, but Marshall headphones always provide quite reliable specs. With as powerful of a speaker as this, a lot depends on volume. If you turn the speaker all the way up, the quality is much worse than at room volume.

Marshall isn’t exaggerating

20 hours of autonomy isn’t unrealistic. We usually got around 18 hours of battery life at a volume of just under 50 percent. That’s great for a portable speaker, even though the Kilburn II is quite a large device. We did, however, have a defect in our first test device and it didn’t last more than 45 minutes. We exchanged it for another speaker that worked fine.

The Kilburn II can be charged with a normal outlet, via USB it might take too long. In about three hours, the battery in the Marshall speaker will be full again and the Kilburn II is ready for the next party.