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Marshall Acton IV Speaker Review: A Familiar Face With Serious New Muscle
- Faye Bradley
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
There's a particular kind of confidence that comes with decades of iconography. Marshall has always known that its home speakers don't just need to sound good — they need to look like they belong on a stage. The Acton has long been the entry point into that world: compact enough to fit on a bookshelf, powerful enough to make you forget you're not at a gig. With the Acton IV, Marshall isn't reinventing the formula. It's refining it — and in doing so, it's produced what may be the most convincing Acton yet.
What's New
The headline change is in the driver configuration, and it's a significant one. The Acton IV packs a 4-inch woofer rated at 60W alongside two 0.75-inch tweeters each rated at 25W — total amplification of 110W. Its predecessor, the Acton III, ran the same physical driver layout but with a 30W woofer and 15W tweeters. That's a doubling of woofer output and a 67% increase in tweeter power. On paper, those are striking numbers. In a living room, they translate to a speaker that can fill substantially larger spaces without audibly straining.
Marshall has also redesigned the bass port — a refinement that often goes underacknowledged but matters enormously to low-frequency performance. A well-tuned bass port doesn't just add volume to the low end; it controls it, reducing distortion and improving definition. Combined with updated tweeters engineered for a wider acoustic dispersion, the Acton IV aims to deliver what Marshall describes as a "wider stereo soundstage" — and the outward-angled tweeter placement with revised waveguides suggests genuine acoustic engineering rather than mere marketing language.
New to this generation is the M-button — a customisable hardware control that can be mapped via the Marshall Bluetooth app to adjust EQ presets or trigger music playback. It's a small addition that speaks to a broader philosophy: the speaker should be controllable without requiring you to reach for your phone every time. The top panel retains the full suite of tactile knobs and controls that have defined the Acton line — bass, treble, volume, a media jog dial, and Bluetooth pairing — with the M-button slotting in neatly alongside them.
Build and Sustainability
The Acton IV is marginally lighter than its predecessor at 2.65kg versus 2.85kg, while maintaining virtually identical dimensions. That weight reduction is unlikely to be noticed in daily use, but it hints at changes in the cabinet and component materials. Speaking of which: Marshall has made a meaningful push toward sustainability with this generation. The wooden cabinet now carries FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification, and the speaker incorporates 70% recycled plastic alongside recycled metal components and magnets. It's also built without PVC and uses only vegan materials — a commitment that extends to improved repairability and lower power consumption.
This matters more than it might seem. The consumer electronics industry has a poor track record on longevity and repairability, and Marshall's decision to prioritise these qualities alongside headline specs is worth acknowledging. A speaker you can repair is a speaker you don't replace.
Connectivity and Future-Proofing
The Acton IV runs Bluetooth 5.3 — an upgrade from the 5.2 on the Acton III — and supports LE Audio with Auracast. The latter is the part that deserves attention: Auracast is Bluetooth's broadcast audio standard, enabling a single source to transmit to multiple receivers simultaneously with no pairing required. This opens the door to genuinely seamless multi-room audio configurations as the ecosystem matures. Marshall's implementation of Over-the-Air (OTA) firmware updates via the app means the speaker can grow with the standard as new features are pushed out.
The Acton IV also gains an RCA input alongside the standard 3.5mm aux — a welcome addition for vinyl enthusiasts and anyone running a traditional hi-fi stack. The Acton III lacked this input, making the IV a meaningfully more versatile device for analogue sources.
The Colour Question
One concession to pragmatism: the Acton IV launches in Black and Cream only, compared to the Acton III's five colourways (adding Brown, Midnight Blue, and Burgundy). Whether the reduced palette is permanent or a phased launch strategy remains to be seen, but buyers with specific interior design requirements may find their options limited at launch. That being said, the Cream and Black options are timeless and can fit well in any household.
Verdict
The Marshall Acton IV doesn't reinvent what the Acton is. It sharpens it. The doubling of woofer output, the improved tweeter power, the redesigned bass port, and the addition of RCA connectivity represent a speaker that has matured in every meaningful dimension. Auracast support and OTA updates mean the investment ages well. At HKD$2,499 (retail), it sits in a competitive bracket — but it carries the weight of a brand that has spent over 60 years understanding what live sound feels like, and deploying that understanding in speakers designed for your living room.
For listeners who want big, room-filling stereo from a single compact unit — and who appreciate hardware that has been built to last — the Acton IV makes a compelling and confident case for itself.
Available in: Black, Cream
Price: HKD$2,499
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