Marshall Tufton Portable Bluetooth Speaker - Black

I just came back from a week of vacation with family and friends at a lake cottage. Except for sleeping, we were outdoors most of the time. One evening we had about 15 people around a bon fire, and it kind of turned into a dance party. So I had a good amount of time to listen to this Marshall Tufton. Also had it out on a boat (fresh water lake), and a little spray didn't hurt anything.First off, this speaker is very high quality built with a real metal grate on the front. The feet are semi soft rubber, and the corners are hard durable plastic of some sort. The volume, bass, & treble knobs are nice quality too, and smooth turning. Just below the base port on the back is a 3.5mm AUX port. Use this with a high quality cable and you'll get slight better sound than bluetooth. The actual weight, weighed on a commercial scale is 10.6 lbs. (4.81kgs)I agree with the guy who talked about this being "over bassed". I either had the bass turned to zero or at one or two, and treble turned up to 8 or 9 all the time. (see picture) Also see my Feb 2023 update with HD streaming vs Spotify.We used it mainly on bluetooth, and depending on production quality of the song, I could make slight adjustments. You can pair two phones at once, and found a partner with different music tastes to trade off playing songs. Worked out great.Experimenting with the speaker up against a wall or out in the open air, I found the treble could be turned down a bit when the midrange speaker behind the cabinet could reflect off the wall, but that also increased the bass a bit since the bass port was reflecting as well. When playing loud out in the open, I found the high end treble clipped a little bit, but not enough to bother a bunch of wine and rum drinkers! I found that plugging in my S22u with a dongle and cable into the AUX, the speaker would not clip quite as much as bluetooth. I plan on getting a good DAC to plug into.The battery is quite impressive. I had my phone volume turned up 90% and the speaker volume on 8 for around 3 hours, and still had 8 out of 10 bars of battery left. It would be really cool if you could put two of these speakers together via a cable. It would be easy for Marshall to add this feature, and they might sell two of these instead of one.Overall, I'm happy with the purchase. Portability vs Sound vs Battery life, it's got them all going on pretty damn well. I really like the simplicity of design and operation.Hope this helps a bit for someone looking to buy one.Edit: 4 months later. Still happy with the Tufton, but found out if you connect a CD player to the AUX on the Tufton, the sound is quite a bit better than Spotify.First I bought one of the cheap portable CD players off Amazon. "HOTT Portable CD player". Used a male to male 3.5mm, and the sound was absolute trash compared to Spotify. Returned that HOTT piece of garbage, and bought the Amazon Basics "3.5mm to 2-Male RCA Adapter Audio Stereo Cable", and hooked it up to my Samsung Blu-Ray player, and into the AUX of the Tufton. The sound is much better with a CD on the Samsung player than Spotify comparing the exact same song, as it should be. Much more balanced sound than Spotify, but don't bother with those cheap chinese portable CD players. They have crap audio circuits in themUpdate 02-23-2023..... The speaker absolutely wakes up when streaming HD or HiFi. The music through Spotify was dull and way too bassy. Had to turn the base almost all the way down. Spotify is 16bit, Amazon Unlimited is 24bit. The Ultra HD songs streaming from Amazon Unlimited sound full and clear out of this Tufton speaker, and allows the tone controls set to normal positions. The HD streaming from AU, Tidal, or any service with Hi Def, sounds better than a CD and makes this Marshal Tufton rock the way it was intended.

Great portable speaker! I am a very big Marshall fan. I own many of their guitar amps. I wanted a somewhat powerful, portable bluetooth speaker for when I'm working on tasks around the house. Sure, I can play with my cell phone speaker, but it isn't really very loud.Nothing Marshall is cheap. Let's get that out of the way. I absolutely feel us consumers are paying for the name, but I also feel it has good quality.The speaker enclosure is pretty heavy, but not like tons. I'm guessing a big speaker magnet. It has the basic controls, volume, treble, and bass, along with a button to wake it from sleep mode, and a battery charge LED graph. I forget the exact battery life, but they do state the maximum life is at 50% volume. I keep mine about 60%. It will easily play for several hours before needing to be recharged.Build construction feels like solid wood, well designed, somewhat heavy, but not insane. I really like the look. Sleek and modern. Very user friendly controls. I don't know what the bluetooth range is, but I have my speaker in the living room, and have walked to the garage and to the driveway, and it still plays. Easily 30 feet. It doesn't go concert level loud, but it still plenty loud given the size. I'm not an audiophile, but I feel the sound quality is very good. Not sure of the frequency response, but all ranges that I expect are definitely there. I also really like the leather handle. It's not cheap or flimsy, it feels like a good quality strap.If you can live with the Marshall price tag, I think you will really like this speaker. It's built well, reasonably light, good battery life, very good sound, and looks great.

Quick answer if you're reading because you're trying to decide between the Kilburn II and the Tufton: Buy the Tufton if you can afford it. Especially if you can get it on sale for $319 like I did. . . Only $60 more than MSRP of the Kilburn II and the Tufton sounds much better (although the Kilburn II is good in its class).Full review:Before I talk about the sound, which I know is important, a few comments about the other features I like. Why am I putting my comments about sound last? Because, let's face it, if you wanted audiophile quality sound you wouldn't buy a mono speaker. You're looking at this for convenience and portability, so allow me to discuss those first . . .Bluetooth: This unit is super easy to pair the first time and, for subsequent pairings, it's amazing how fast your smartphone will link up with this unit. Almost instantaneous and hassle free. Plus, the multi-pairing with more than one phone DOES work (contrary to some reviews I've read) but the only complaint I have there is the sound will pause when another paired Bluetooth device comes within range. A small inconvenience, but thought I would mention. Otherwise, the unit emits a recognizable yet different tone when pairing and unpairing so you know what's going on. The range is great, I calculate 75 feet outdoors and 50 feet indoors without any issues or dropouts.Battery life: When reading about this unit I dismissed the 20 hour claim, figuring that meant standby and much less when actually playing music. Boy was I pleasantly surprised! I play this thing for hours and hours and I think I've only charged it once. Battery life is phenomenal.Size: Don't be fooled like the pictures. It looks like a Marshall stack amp and therefore I thought it would be huge until I checked the specs. Sure, it's bigger than the Kilburn II but it's not massive and certainly very portable, especially with the comfy leather strap. See my picture of it next to an average sized coffee-table hardcover book.Sound: Okay, finally my comments about the sound. Anybody who has heard it has been amazed. Me, a bit less so, I was an "audiophile" for years until my age caught up to me and my hearing deteriorated somewhat. Compared to other bluetooth speakers it sounds great. The best part, true to the Marshall name, it delivers plenty of bass "punch", even in wide open outdoor areas, especially when played loud. When I say "punch" I don't mean "boomy".My only minor complaint, the sound isn't quite as full when played at lower volumes. This thing just wants to be cranked but, either way, it won't disappoint. Look no futher if you need something to rock out an outdoor setting. At lower to mid volumes, however, the vocals sound a bit distant and the midrange is a tad lacking. Good thing I like my music on the loud side. . . .Wish list: I hope someone from Marshall reads this. . . . If anything, I'd love the capability to pair with another Tufton and have true stereo. If that sounds like too much of an ask, I have a pair of Altec Lansing Baby Boom bluetooth speakers that cost only $30 each that will pair in stereo, that's where I got the idea! They sound awesome despite their tiny size. Yeah, a pair of these wouldn't be cheap but I wouldn't hesitate to buy a second unit if I could pair them. . . .Final comments on the Tufton vs. Kilburn II comparison mentioned earlier. I originally wanted a Kilburn after hearing one at a party so I ordered one. On its own, the Kilburn impressed me. However, through some unexpected circumstance I had a chance to compare it to a Tufton in person. It took only one or two favorite songs to make up my mind. The big difference is the aforementioned bass response. Spend the extra bucks if you can. . . .