Since Kilburn II is portable whereas Acton II (see image: Acton II Bluetooth) is not, this comparison doesn't really make much sense. My point in this post is to prove that the Kilburn II is NOT simply the portable version of the Acton II.
I was wondering about the differences between Marshall's Acton II vs Kilburn II speakers as they're roughly the same size.
So I made an intense research about this and also contacted the Marshall Customer Service (chat history available at the bottom of this post), but I didn't really like their support due to some outright incorrect information.
In the end, I've put together all my findings here in this post.
Marshall Acton II Bluetooth and Kilburn II aren't cheap by any means. This is why I'd recommend you to read this short post entirely - but if you're looking for a short answer, here it is:
In summary, although Kilburn II still does sound pretty good, Acton II Bluetooth sounds noticeably more satisfying. Kilburn II is NOT simply the "portable version" of the Acton II Bluetooth. Instead, it lacks significant amplifier power, so it's weaker.
Although Kilburn II still does sound pretty good, Acton II Bluetooth sounds noticeably more satisfying. Kilburn II is NOT simply the "portable version" of the Acton II Bluetooth, and instead, it lacks significant amplifier power, so it's weaker.
Kilburn II's two tweeters and one woofer are standing at 8 and 20 Watts respectively. Whereas the same amount of tweeters and woofer of the Acton II Bluetooth stand at 15 and 30 Watts respectively.
But still, Kilburn II is listed at 100.4 decibel at 1 meter whereas the Acton II at 98 decibel at 1 meter. It seems like Kilburn II is stronger?
So how does this happen?
Sound power and quality
Let me tell you something right off the bat.
The sound quality performance you'll end up getting from a speaker will always depend on your room acoustics - particularly room dimensions and speaker positions.
The impact of the combination of these two is actually so strong that in most cases, it doesn't even make sense to utter a single word on sound quality without speaking of them.
This is also why it's not unusual to see completely different reviews of the same speaker.
In one case the speaker might be placed in a sweet spot inside the room and hence the user might be satisfied. In other cases the same speaker might be ill placed and hence user might even have returned it.
The point most people miss here is that it mostly isn't even about the engineering behind the speaker itself. It's about where you place the speaker inside which room.
So, in order to solve this problem, I've partnered with Acoustics and Audio Engineering PhD Andrea Cicero from AC Acustica and created Soundton - a simple, 2D, browser accessible online speaker placement calculator.
With Soundton, now there's a way to figure the sound quality of most speakers before you buy them.
Read more about its working principles at soundton.com/documentation/.
The end colormap provides you the locations with the best (green) and worst (red) acoustics.