Marshall Hanwell Speakers Review
Our time with the Marshall Hanwell hifi speakers has been like roller-coster ride. It started out with ridiculous amounts of excitement during the unboxing and our first few days with it. The black leather vinyl body and the fret cloth design never failed to make us smile each time we got home. Seeing the Hanwell after a long day of work was a welcome invitation to sit back, relax, and just get lost in music. However the lack of connectivity options (Bluetooth, RCA, or AirPlay) eventually took its toll. The relationship took a turn for the better though after we found a few workarounds which made the Marshall Hanwell our audio system of choice for our condo.
Read on for our full review. 🙂
One of the best looking speakers you’ll ever find
The Marshall Hanwell basically looks like the amplifiers that rock bands hook up to their guitars and other instruments. Marshall has made a name for themselves in the last few decades by coming up with loud and “manly” looking amplifiers. The Hanwell has the same design and materials: black leather vinyl for the body, fret cloth for the front, gold metal controls with analog dials (even the on/off switch is analog woot), and the legendary Marshall logo at the front. I can’t count how many times people ask me if I play the guitar when they would see the Marshall Hanwell in our living room, hehe.
By the way, Marshall also gave the same design treatment to the audio cable which you use to connect to your iPod, tablet, smartphone, laptop, or desktop. We have the trademark gold plated jacks with the twirly black leatherette covered cable.
Unfortunately while it is one of the nicest looking speakers you’ll find, it’s not the most portable. The Hanwell weights well over 20 kilograms making it next to impossible to bring with you on trips. It’s really meant to be a stationary speaker either at home or at the office.
Lives up to the “LOUD” reputation of Marshall
When it comes to sound quality and power, the Marshall Hanwell delivers in spades. First let’s talk about the power. The drivers on this thing are so loud that you can fill the entire living room with music with just 25-30% on the volume dial. Hitting 50% on it would almost drown out all chatter (perfect for sound tripping though). If you’re going to use this for parties on open air spaces jacking it up to 70-80% should be more than enough. We’ve never been in a scenario where we had to pump it all the way up to 100% but that would probably be insanely loud already.
So it’s loud, yay. How about quality? Fortunately the Hanwell also does well in that category. Default sound is very neutral making it ideal for different kinds of music. If you want extra “oomph” though you can play around with the Bass and Treble dials on the control panel. If you want to listen to House music and just chill then turn up the Bass a bit and lower the Treble and you’re golden. If you just want to listen to acoustic or live tracks then dial down the Bass and slightly increase Treble. To fully maximize the Hanwell you need to learn to play around with these dials and mix them up a bit for the perfect sound to come out for what you’re listening to.
When it comes to sound quality and power we’re very impressed and happy with the performance of the Marshall Hanwell.
Can also work with your home theater system
The biggest criticism that Hanwell is getting (other than the price) is the lack of connectivity options. However there are workarounds to this. For example, if you want to hook this bad boy up to your TV/PS3/BluRay set-up, just get an RCA to Audio Jack converter. We got one for Php50 in Vmall, Greenhills. Just connect the white and red cables and then plug it in to the standard audio jack of the Hanwell.
The result? Perfect for gaming on the PS3 or watching your favorite movies and TV series. We’ve completely replaced our old audio set-up in favor of the Hanwell not just because of the sound quality but because it really looks good below the TV, hehe. Design has to count for something right? Lol.
Expensive but definitely a keeper if you can afford one
The Marshall Hanwell is a great throwback speaker that’s potentially a perpetual conversation piece item in your living room. It looks fantastic and sounds even better. However it’s still not for everyone. The Hanwell sells for a little less than Php35,000 putting it in the same price range as a lot of home theater set-ups from Sony, Samsung, and other brands. The Hanwell is a statement as much as it is a gadget. Rich Rocker Lives Here. Lol 😛
If you want one just head over to the various branches of Beyond the Box or Digital Walker.
Marshall Hanwell on the Unbox Podcast
We actually featured the Marshall Hanwell during the 22nd episode of the Unbox Video Podcast. We’ve embedded the full episode below for your convenience. If you want to skip right to it just head to 30:00.
