Jordan O'BrienMarshall has launched two new version of the Stanmore II and Acton II voice speakers, although it has ditched Amazon’s Alexa in favour of the Google Assistant.
The addition of Google Assistant brings some key benefits to the Marshall line-up of voice-enabled speakers, as they can now join a Chromecast-enabled multi-room system. That means they can be paired with everything from high-end home cinema systems to the Google Home Mini. The Google Assistant is also arguably the better assistant, with the power of the Google search engine able to answer any questions thrown at it, although it slightly lags behind the Alexa assistant when it comes to smart home compatibility.
Both sporting the classic design of a Marshall speaker, the Stanmore II and Acton II also feature far-field microphones to ensure that they can pick up commands from afar. They also pack dual 15W tweeters, although there’s a 50W subwoofer in the Stanmore II, as opposed to a smaller 30W sub in the Acton II.
The Stanmore II Voice with Google Assistant is the larger of the two speakers and retails for £349.99, while the Acton II Voice is slightly smaller and also more affordable, retailing at £269.99.