Marshall Emberton III Packs Stage Style and a Full Weekend into One Small Speaker

Marshall still builds its portable speakers to look like the cabinets that sit behind guitarists. Emberton III, priced at $99.99 (was $180), keeps the script logo, the metal grille, and a textured sleeve that feels closer to an amp cover than a smooth plastic pebble pulled from a beach bag. Black and brass is the familiar pairing. Cream, brown, sage, midnight blue, black and silver, and a couple of darker finishes sit on the same body. At 6.3 inches wide, 2.7 inches tall, and 3 inches deep, the whole unit weighs 1.5 pounds, light enough to slide into a day bag without rearranging everything else already in there.

The sound comes from a 2 inch full-range driver rated at 10 watts, which is combined with not one, but two passive radiators and a couple of Class D amps rated at 38 watts apiece. Marshall’s design is known as True Stereophonic, and it uses the front and rear grilles to bounce sound around the speaker, ensuring that someone on either side gets a proper mix. The frequency response ranges from 65 Hz to 20 kHz, with a robust peak of 90 dB at one meter, which is a slight improvement over the preceding Emberton. Then there’s Dynamic Loudness, which dynamically modifies the balance as the level changes, so that when you listen at low volume, the bottom end remains, and when you crank it up loud, it stays clean rather than simply increasing the loudness, as a simple boost would do. People are usually drawn to the middle clarity, as bass is present, but for a speaker of its size, it’s rather good, and you’ll get enough low end for a patio table, but it won’t shake the floor like a larger box.

Battery life is what makes this small box feel less constrained. Marshall claims it will last for more than 32 hours on a single charge, which is two hours longer than the previous one, and a full refill via USB-C should take roughly two hours. One fascinating trick is that you can connect it to a cable for 20 minutes and obtain six hours of gaming, which is enough to cover a late start and an entire afternoon.

There’s also a setting in the app that allows you to halt the charge at 95 percent to preserve the battery in good condition, as well as monitor the battery temperature while it’s charging, which is intended to help extend the battery’s lifespan across many years of use. They’re also using Bluetooth 5.3 to connect the speaker to your phone, which gives you a claimed free field range of around 100 meters, enough to connect not one but two phones at the same time. It’s also LE Audio ready, which allows for Auracast broadcasting on compatible gear, and there’s a built-in mic for taking calls.

There is no auxiliary jack, but it is IP67 rated, which means it can tolerate some dust and a brief immersion in water. Officially, it can withstand being totally submerged in up to a meter of water for up to 30 minutes, which is OK for a rainy day, spilling a drink on it, or giving it a quick washing after being in the sand, but don’t leave it on the bottom of the pool. All of the controls are located on top of the speaker, including a multi-directional knob for volume and track skipping, as well as buttons for turning it on and off, and a little light that indicates the battery level. If you wish to attach it to your bag or something, there is an extra strap.