‘Easy on the eyes and ridiculously stunning sound’ — I tested the Marshall Stanmore IV home speaker and it’s coming for Sonos’ crown

If, like me, you love listening to music when you’re chilling, cooking or doing basically anything else indoors, you need one of the best smart speakers — and few are better than the Marshall Stanmore IV. The fourth iteration of Stanmore improves on its predecessor by introducing enhanced bass response, plus a wide soundstage to deliver an immersive listening experience.

The Stanmore IV is well-designed and extremely well-built, and it features Bluetooth, RCA and AUX inputs for most, if not all, devices you own. The bass is powerful while the treble is smooth and defined, and the speaker can get very loud without distortion. While it’s missing Wi-Fi streaming and voice assistant support — something its closest rival, Sonos, offers — this is the home speaker to get if you want full-bodied sound above all else.

For the complete breakdown, read my full Marshall Stanmore IV review.

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Marshall Stanmore IV review: Specs

Marshall Stanmore IV review: Price & availability

The Marshall Stanmore IV was announced on 7 July 2026 along with the Marshall Acton IV, both of which form the brand’s lineup of home speakers, known as Homeline IV. It’s the fourth iteration of and the successor to the Marshall Stanmore III which came out four years ago. The Stanmore IV has a retail price of $399 / £349 — so it’s $20 pricier than the Stanmore III’s launch price.

The Stanmore IV is also pricier than the Acton IV ($299), but that’s the extra you pay for a bigger speaker and no distortion when playing music at the highest volume. Price- and features-wise, the Stanmore IV competes with the Sonos Era 300 ($449) and the Klipsch The Three Plus ($399). The Era 300 could be worth the extra spend if you want Wi-Fi streaming and voice assistant support, though, neither of which the Stanmore IV can manage.

Denon’s Home lineup is another rival, but with the Denon Home 350 ($749) and the Denon Home 600 ($799) costing nearly double, they may be out of your budget. The Stanmore IV is, then, an excellent speaker for those who don’t want to spend a fortune on full-bodied sound.

Marshall Stanmore IV review: Design

The Marshall Stanmore IV is a chonky boi, and as a mains-powered speaker, it’s meant to be kept plugged in and in one spot. Measuring 13.78 x 7.99 x 7.28 inches and weighing a whopping 8.81lbs, I highly doubt you’ll be lugging it around unless you’re moving houses. The Stanmore IV is a little bigger than the Klipsch The Three Plus and significantly bigger than the rounded Sonos Era 300. It fits nicely on my bookshelf and window sill.

There's no doubt that Marshall knows how to make a good-looking speaker. We’ve seen it with the Bromley 450 ($799), the Kilburn III ($379), and the Middleton II ($329), to name a few. The Stanmore IV is no different. It shares similar design philosophies to its stablemate, the Acton IV. It’s available in black or cream, with brass and gray accents to deliver one of the most stunning speakers I’ve had the pleasure of testing.

Adding to the speaker’s minimalist charm is its lack of any garish RGB lighting, and any form of illumination is limited to the red LED settings indicators on the top plate. Build quality is top-notch so you’re getting bang for your buck here. From the faux-leather vinyl finish to the quality of the knobs and buttons, Marshall has spared no expense to deliver what feels like a long-lasting speaker.

Weatherproofing

Just like the Acton IV, the Stanmore IV is a mains-powered home speaker designed for indoor use. It doesn’t have an official IP waterproof rating so I wouldn’t recommend using it in the bathroom or outside in the rain. You may want to consider one of the best waterproof Bluetooth speakers for outdoor use, such as the IP67-rated Marshall Middleton II, the IP68-rated JBL Xtreme 5 ($399), or the Tribit StormBox Mini+ ($39) if you’re on a really tight budget.

Controls

Controls on the Stanmore IV are identical to the Acton IV’s. The dials and buttons are located on the top plate. These include the Source button to swap between Bluetooth, AUX and RCA inputs; three dials for adjusting the bass, treble and volume on a scale of one to 10 each; a joystick for changing tracks and pausing playback; and a customizable ‘M’ button that, by default, plays Spotify, thereby negating the need to launch the app via your phone.

All the controls are easy to understand and don’t take long to get a hang of. Having onboard bass and treble dials is especially handy as you don’t need to fire up the companion app every time to adjust these. The ‘M’ button can also be customized to swap between EQ presets. The controls also give great tactile feedback when pressed — and the amp-like power button makes me feel like a rockstar every time I turn on the Stanmore IV.

Connectivity

Similar to the Acton IV, the Stanmore IV doesn’t feature Wi-Fi streaming or voice assistant support. These are home speakers and while they look very smart, they aren’t smart speakers, so you may want to consider the Sonos Era 300 if you want superior, lossless hi-res playback. The Klipsch The Three Plus doesn’t feature Wi-Fi connectivity either, so you’re limited to Bluetooth playback on both speakers.

The Stanmore IV utilizes Bluetooth 5.3 with support for SBC, AAC, LC3 and LDAC codecs — the Klipsch The Three Plus supports only SBC and AAC. LC3 offers better stability and efficiency compared to SBC and AAC, and LDAC can be used for hi-res streaming in the absence of Wi-Fi… although Wi-Fi streaming is still more hi-res than Bluetooth LDAC because it doesn’t compress the music files. Again, you’ll need to spend the extra $50 on the Sonos Era 300 for that.

Alongside wireless connectivity, you also get a 3.5mm AUX port located next to the controls, and RCA ports for connecting your record player on the speaker’s underside. You can keep all your devices plugged in and simply use the Source button to swap between them as and when needed. The ports are now located on the speaker’s underside, as opposed to on the back of its predecessor. This means that you can now place the Stanmore IV (and the Acton IV) flush against walls without compromising on space or sound quality.

The Stanmore IV is Auracast-enabled and can now be connected to its Homeline IV sibling — its predecessor could pair with another Stanmore III only, so this is a new feature. I was testing both the Acton IV and the Stanmore IV at the same time so I connected them together which took mere seconds, and it worked like a charm.

If you already own Homeline III speakers, you can grab the Marshall Heddon hub for $299 to connect all your speakers together. The Heddon uses Wi-Fi to transmit to other Marshall speakers, making it worth the investment for multi-room setups. If you buy two or more Homeline speakers, Marshall will throw in the Heddon for free, too.

Marshall Stanmore IV review: Sound quality

The Marshall Stanmore IV is fitted with two 25W Class D amplifiers to power its dual 0.75-inch tweeters, and one 60W Class D amplifier for its 5-inch woofer, and it covers a frequency response range of 36Hz to 38KHz. I tested the speaker by listening to a few songs on Qobuz, the best music streaming service for hi-res audio — and I’ve been thoroughly impressed.

Though it’s a single-box speaker, the Stanmore IV boasts a very wide soundstage, and I immediately noticed this when listening to Tame Impala’s ‘Apocalypse Dreams.’ The swirling synths, shimmering guitars and reverb-soaked vocals extended beyond the cabinet, delivering an almost three-dimensional quality. The speaker’s instrument separation is commendable as it allowed every effect and melody to remain distinct but without losing cohesion.

I then listened to ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by Dire Straits, and it was perhaps the best the song has ever sounded to me. The opening resonator guitar sounded beautifully textured with crisp, shimmering detail, and the treble never once turned harsh. The Stanmore IV’s warm, rich tuning complements the song perfectly, lending it an analog feel while preserving subtle nuances, such as Mark Knopfler’s breath work. As the arrangement swelled, the Stanmore IV handled the dynamics effortlessly, allowing the percussion instruments to occupy their own space without overpowering the acoustic guitar.

Bass on the Stanmore IV is deep and controlled, as was made apparent to me when listening to ‘Intro’ by The xx. The iconic bassline held real weight and filled the room without becoming bloated or overpowering. Each note plucked on the bass started and stopped cleanly which helped the song maintain its hypnotic rhythm. It made me feel like that scene of Jon Hamm dancing at the club in ‘Your Friends & Neighbors.’

The Stanmore IV can get very loud too — louder than you’ll realistically need when listening to music indoors. But what I appreciate about the Stanmore IV’s loudness is that even at the highest volume, music doesn’t sound distorted or muddy — an issue I had with the Acton IV. Marshall’s fine-tuned Dynamic Loudness comes into play here, where the brand has made subtle adjustments to the high and low frequencies, thereby ensuring that music sounds free of distortion regardless of the volume.

If you want a pure rock ‘n’ roll sound that’s consistent across the volume spectrum, few speakers are better than the Stanmore IV.

Listen along to my review with the Marshall Stanmore IV testing playlist:

Marshall Stanmore IV review: App

To customize the Marshall Stanmore IV, you’ll need to download the Marshall Bluetooth app on either iOS or Android. Sporting a clean interface with plenty of signposting, the Marshall Bluetooth app is easy to navigate and enables you to adjust nearly every Marshall device’s settings. You can use it to customize the Stanmore IV’s five-band equalizer, assign a custom function to the ‘M’ button, adjust the brightness of the LED indicators, and of course, update the firmware.

Marshall has also added a Placement Compensation function to the app. You can select whether the speaker is close to an edge or corner, or flush against a wall, and the Stanmore IV will then correct for any nearby reflective surfaces that may affect the sound quality. It’s quick to do and changes are instantaneous, so it’s worth taking a couple of minutes and playing around with it to get the best possible sound.

Marshall Stanmore IV review: Verdict

Home speakers are perfect for, well, at-home listening, and the Marshall Stanmore IV delivers beautiful, immersive sound quality that doesn’t give you much to complain about. It’s an easy speaker to recommend if your priorities are premium design and superb sound quality over smart features, like voice assistant support. The wide, room-filling soundstage, powerful yet controlled bass, and vibrant treble make the Stanmore IV a joy to listen to.

Adding to the Stanmore IV’s charm are its amp-like tactile controls and drool-worthy design. Unlike its smaller sibling, the Acton IV, the Stanmore IV maintains distortion-free sound even at high volumes, making it a great choice for soundtracking dinner parties. Throw in versatile wired inputs and Auracast for connecting other Homeline IV speakers and you’ve got yourself a winner.

If you aren’t fussed about the lack of Wi-Fi streaming and voice assistant support, and can’t swing the extra dough on Sonos or Denon, the Stanmore IV is an exceptional speaker. Sometimes, sounding brilliant is all a home speaker really needs to do.