Having brought a bit of classic rock and roll energy to the soundbar scene with its debut Heston 120 soundbar back in May, Marshall has swiftly followed that up with two additions to its new ‘TV Sound’ product range in the shape of the Heston 60 compact soundbar and Heston Sub 200 wireless subwoofer.
The Heston 60 soundbar happily follows the same distinctively Marshall design cues as the Heston 120, complete with tactile materials, gold accents for its distinctive on-bar control buttons and Marshall logo, and a richly textured fabric speaker cover, but applies them to a much more compact chassis able to fit under smaller TVs or into smaller rooms. All while continuing, says Marshall, to deliver ”huge sound”.
Available in a cream colour option as well as black, the Heston 60 rounds out its relatively lifestyle focus by supporting dual mounting options, so that it can be placed flat against the wall or sat on a TV bench. In fact, the Heston 60’s logo and control panel labels are both magnetically attached, so that they be moved on the soundbar’s bodywork to suit your preferred installation position.
The Heston 60 also benefits from Marshall’s unique Repairability feature, with its Fret, end-caps, drivers and PCBAs all being replaceable if any of them get damaged.
Tucked beneath that distinctive Marshall exterior is a 5.1-channel speaker configuration (incorporating two three-inch woofers and 5 1.25-inch full range drivers), powered by 56W of total audio power and covering a claimed frequency range of 45Hz-20kHz. The Heston 60 includes both Dolby Atmos and DTS-X decoding in its audio format support, as well as playback of the SBC, LC3, AAC Mpeg4, ALAC, FLAC, LPCM, Ogg Vorbis and WMA/WMA9 audio file formats.
Wi-Fi streaming is supported on the Heston 60 with instant access to Spotify, and easy to set up access to AirPlay, GoogleCast, and Tidal Connect. Plus there’s Bluetooth (5.3) support using the new Auracast system, as well as wired connections in the shape of a single eARC-capable HDMI port, a 3.5mm AUX input, an RCA Mono subwoofer line out, and a USB-C slot.
The Heston 60 can be controlled via the Marshall App if you can resist using those cute on-bar control buttons, with app options available including fine-tuning EQ settings and balancing sound levels.
While you can add a subwoofer to the Heston 60 and 120 soundbars via their RCA subwoofer line out connections, Marshall’s new Heston Sub 200 is designed to give you a way of adding Marshall-tuned bass to the Heston 60 and Heston 120 soundbars wirelessly, using Bluetooth LE Audio technology.
As well as being easy to place anywhere in your room thanks to it not needing a physical connection to the soundbars, the Heston Sub 200 also takes its design cues from the Heston 120 and 60, giving your room a further dose of Marshall’s aesthetic DNA complete with physical set-up and volume knob controls and replaceable Fret, feet, drivers and PCBAs. It can be controlled from the same Marshall App you can use to control the Heston 60 and 120 soundbars, too.
The Heston Sub 200 carries two 5.25-inch subwoofers fed by 2 x 120W Class-D amplifiers, and is claimed to be capable of delivering a 30-150Hz frequency response range.
The Heston 60 and Heston Sub 200 will go on sale from September 23 at your local territory’s Marshall website, priced at $699.99/£499.99 and $699.99/£429.99 respectively, before opening up to other select retailers from September 30.
—
Related Reading
Marshall Channels Its Rock Star Energy Into Its First Ever Soundbar
KEF Unveils Innovative New ‘XIO’ Soundbar With Exclusive Intelligent Placement Technology
Yamaha Unveils New Flagship Soundbar With Surround:AI Technology
