Marshall Tufton Bluetooth speaker: Loud, thumpy, but pricey and lacking in amenities

Marshall is an iconic music brand, and we like the looks and run time, but this speaker is steeply-priced and has only basic features. It’s also not the stereo you might think it is.

- JON L. JACOBI

The Tufton is the latest Marshall Bluetooth speaker to cross TechHive’s portal. It’s a large, loud, bass-pumping, but barebones unit designed for outdoor and party use. It sounds decent and its build quality is top-notch, but its $400 MSRP is a fair amount of coin for an oddball stereo implementation, no buttons to control playback or handling phone calls, and no ability to charge other devices.

It’s worth noting that Amazon was selling the Tufton for $330 (go.macworld. com/mtft) as I was writing this review, and the manufacturer was throwing in a free pair of its Major III Bluetooth headphones if you buy it direct (go.macworld.com/mjr3).

DESIGN AND FEATURES

The styling of the Marshall Tufton is a nod to…. Well, to be honest, I’m not sure. It has the Marshall logo, tweed grill, and Tolex covering, but it’s too skinny to be a combo amp, and it doesn’t mimic the iconic Marshall stack, either. That said, it absolutely does shout Marshall if that’s what you’re after.

I mentioned that the Tufton is on the large side, measuring approximately 14 x 9 x 6.5 inches (HxWxD) and weighing slightly less than 11 pounds. That heft reflects very sturdy MDF construction and heavy-duty components. The back, held in place by high-quality screws, comes off, and for several reasons, I took a peek inside. A bit more on that later. The wide and durable carrying strap makes it actually feel a little lighter than the advertised weight, but it’s certainly not for hiking.