The Marshall Heston 120 could fix soundbars’ weak spot

Marshall’s reputation in the music industry is rivalled by few others. Its amps are used by major music artists (Jimi Hendrix used them, don’t you know), and they’ve parlayed that into wireless speakers and headphones, which they’ve had success with.

But Marshall isn’t stopping there. The announcement of the Heston 120 TV Soundbar shows it has ambitions beyond playing in the field of music. It wants to be in every room in your home.

But home cinema is obviously not a natural fit for a brand like Marshall. It’s sliding into an area of the market that’s competitive to say the least. How’s Marshall going to make a statement?

Well, by fixing an issue that’s long been a crux of soundbars.

Soundbars aren’t great for music

It should be obvious but it isn’t. Films aren’t the same as music. Music is about rhythm and timing, while films create a sense of space and immersion, and these aren’t qualities that overlap too well.

While a soundbar can be really good with films, it can trip up trying to do its best for music.

With the Heston 120 TV Soundbar, Marshall’s hoping that not only will it be great with movies, but it’ll provide the energy and feel of music too. The Heston 120 won’t just be a soundbar plonked underneath your TV – Marshall wants it to be the best music speaker in your home too.

That sounds easier said than done, but after hearing the Heston 120 TV Soundbar at a briefing session in London, I’m more confident than I was going in that the Heston might be able to bridge that gap between movies and music.

It’s all about the tuning

The Marshall Heston has to bridge four different modes of listening: Dolby Atmos with films, stereo with TV, Dolby Atmos with music and stereo music – and it has to sound good and consistent with all four of them. Shouldn’t be too difficult then.

Here’s some insight into Marshall’s approach. They tried to spend an equal amount of time on Atmos for the TV, Atmos with music, and stereo tuning, visiting Atmos studios in Stockholm and their own in Milton Keynes to understand sound separation (basically what sound goes where) within an Atmos immersive sound mix.

Rather than creating gimmicky 3D effects, the plan was to focus on instrument separation – a plan I’d agree with. The intent should be to create a sense of space where instruments exist in their own bubble but come together to form a whole, like an orchestra.

Listening to music fed into improving the sound with films, starting with a flat, balanced sound and Marshall adjusting it as they went along. Extensive user testing was conducted for over 18 months with employees providing user feedback on what worked and what didn’t, as well as listening to competitors (Sonos and a few others).

High frequency sounds were routed through the upfiring drivers to improve clarity and separation, while the centre speaker contains sounds from the left and right channels to increase the sweet spot, with the recognition that not everyone sits in the middle of the settee, so there’s a need to accommodate those off the sides too. From concept to what we have now took three years.

Sounds good with films and music

So sitting down for Marshall’s presentation, the volume was turned up to the max. It wasn’t the best introduction to the Heston 120, but it did at least show that it’s a soundbar that can go loud without losing too much of its character.

With Atmos content, I enjoyed how it pushed sounds both to the sides and out into the room (the pod race from The Phantom Menace sounded much bigger than the soundbar itself). Vocals in music sounded a bit hoarse and thin because of the high volume, but overall, the Heston 120 was an energetic and punchy listen with crisp highs and hefty bass for an all-in-one soundbar.

It sounds dynamic too, conveying the ups and downs of stereo music without sounding unnatural. That alone puts it above many of the soundbars I’ve tested.

With support for Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Google Cast, and AirPlay 2, you can stream your favourite tunes over Wi-Fi to get the highest-quality sound. Bluetooth is nice to have, but it is not always great for high-quality sound.

The Marshall Heston 120 could be a contender

I’m not going to get too ahead of myself, but from the brief look and listen I had, the Heston 120 seems like it has the chops to swim at the deep end of the soundbar pool.

Perhaps it takes a brand coming in with a fresh perspective to see things in a slightly different way and take a different approach. We’ll have to wait and see if it fulfils its promise but the Heston 120 is making me a believer that Marshall might have figured out the weak spot for soundbars.

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