British brand Marshall has lifted the lid on its new Marshall Heston 60 Dolby Atmos soundbar and the Heston Sub 200 subwoofer.
Marshall describes the Heston 60 as a “compact but mighty soundbar” to suit smaller spaces while “still delivering huge sound.”
That puts it in square competition with the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) which has been the recommended small option in our best Dolby Atmos soundbar guide for quite some time.
The Dolby Atmos soundbar can be mounted two ways, meaning it can be placed flat against the wall or standing on a TV bench. As a result, the logo and control panel are both magnetic.
Marshall adds that it is using “specially designed waveguides and angled front drivers” to make sure you get the same sound experience in either position.
Under the hood, the ‘bar has two woofers and five full-range drivers, boasting a total power output of 56W.
In terms of connectivity, the Heston 60 offers access to Bluetooth 5.3 and wi-fi, as well as an HDMI 2.1 port (eARC), a 3.5mm aux port, an RCA input and USB-C. There is also support for AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect.
There are four sound modes to choose from as well: Movie, Music, Night and Voice. Where Movie mode is meant to “raise the volume on drama and intensify effects”, Night mode “reduces loud effects and keeps speech clear” according to Marshall.
Turning to the Heston Sub 200, Marshall says this subwoofer “delivers exceptional bass that transforms movie night into a main stage experience.” Bold claims, indeed.
It packs two 5.25 inch subwoofers and two 120W Class D amplifiers, with a peak total power output of 236W.
Featuring the latest Bluetooth LE Audio wireless technology, the brand claims this makes it easy to move around your home.
These two new models can be controlled via the Marshall app so you can pair them with each other and with any Marshall soundbars you may have.
You can get both products in a cream or black finish.
The new Heston models follow on from the release of Marshall’s first soundbar; the larger and more expensive Marshall Heston 120, which we had in our test room earlier this year.
While we were impressed by its clear dialogue and decent level of bass, its weak Dolby Atmos performance and lack of dynamics meant it earned a three-star overall rating.
At its hefty price of £900 / $1000 / AU$1799, the five-star Sonos Arc Ultra trumped the Marshall 'bar's performance when we ran them head-to-head.
The Heston 60 will launch costing £500 / $700 / AU$999 which means it is significantly more expensive than our current recommend small Dolby Atmos soundbar, the Sonos Beam Gen 2. The Sonos was on sale for £340 at the time of writing.
The Heston Sub 200 is priced at £430 / $600 / AU$899, pitting it firmly against the Q Acoustics QB12 subwoofer which launched at £499 / AU$1,399 (around $670).
Both the Heston 60 and Heston Sub 200 will go on sale from 23 September. We'll hopefully get units in for testing before then to see how they compare to the competition.
MORE:
Here's the Marshall Heston 120 review
Check out the best subwoofers
And these are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars we have tested
