Most speaker companies choose sides when it comes to using Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. Sonos and Harman Kardon are exceptions in the market, and now Marshall has joined the camp.
Most speaker companies choose sides when it comes to using Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. Sonos and Harman Kardon are exceptions in the market, and now Marshall has joined the camp.
Marshall has announced it will make its two smart speakers – Acton ll Voice and Stanmore ll Voice – with Google Assistant built-in.
Marshall announced earlier this year that the two speakers have Amazon Alexa built-in. The company said it will support both voice assistants within a single product, similar to the Sonos One speaker.
The Sonos One speaker supports various voice platforms, with Alexa and Apple Airplay 2 built-in, and will have Google Assistant integration in 2019. Meanwhile, speaker company Harman Kardon offers US$249 Alexa speaker Allure and US$700 Google Assistant speaker Citation 500.
Acton ll Voice and Stanmore ll Voice have a Class D amplifier for the woofer and two Class D amplifiers for the tweeters. The larger Stanmore ll Voice delivers louder sound (101dB) than the Acton ll Voice (98dB).
Both models support Wi-Fi connection to enable high-resolution audio streaming, Bluetooth, Spotify Connect, an RCA cable and a 3.5mm cable. They have dual-mic array for far-field voice recognition and use noise cancellation in order to hear voice commands better.
With Google Assistant built-in, users can ask the assistant for weather forecast, news, calendar, navigation as well as home automation control. It also features Google Chromecast support for multi-room audio.
Other speaker companies that stand on Google’s side include Sony, JBL, LG, Panasonic and Bang & Olufsen.
Marshall’s Acton ll Voice is available for US$299.99 and Stanmore ll Voice for US$399.99.