If you like your audio with a side of style, Marshall just served a neat slice of nostalgia at IFA 2025. The new Heston 60 is a smaller, friendlier sibling to the Heston 120 — the same amp-inspired aesthetic that looks like it wandered off the set of Mad Men, but tuned down so it actually fits under more modern TVs and people’s patience for tangled cables. Marshall also announced a matching wireless subwoofer, the Heston Sub 200, which, together, completes the retro-tech living-room flex.
Design & build: tactile, repair-minded, and unabashedly mid-century
Marshall leans hard into its heritage: woven fabric, PU leather trim, and a tactile control surface — this time with buttons instead of the knurled knobs on the bigger Heston 120. There’s a little theater to the physicality here; the control face is reversible depending on whether you wall-mount the bar or sit it on a console, and the Marshall script logo is magnetic, so you can reposition it cleanly. That focus on physical details also extends to repairability — Marshall says the Heston family is designed with replaceable parts (think fret/grille, end caps, drivers and circuit boards), a rare and welcome approach in the soundbar world.
Sound & specs: smaller box, sensible compromises
The Heston 60 is built on the philosophy of “do more with less.” Where the Heston 120 shoved in 11 amplifiers and a higher peak power rating, the Heston 60 uses seven Class-D amplifiers (two 25W and five 5W) for a total quoted output of about 56W. Internally, you get two woofers and five full-range drivers arranged with angled drivers and waveguides so the little bar can approximate a wider soundstage and play nicely whether it’s wall-mounted or sitting flat. Translation: it won’t rattle the whole house the way a big tower system will, but for apartments and smaller rooms, this setup is aimed squarely at the Sonos Beam / compact-Atmos crowd.
Marshall also keeps Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support in the package, which is notable given the size — the company tries to deliver immersive height cues from a single compact chassis rather than a full 5.1.2 rack. Whether that approximated Atmos will outpace competitors in the same footprint is something reviewers will only be able to judge once they’ve listened.
Features & connectivity: everything you’d expect, plus Auracast
On the connectivity front, the Heston 60 is generous: HDMI 2.1 with eARC, a 3.5mm analogue jack, Bluetooth 5.3, and Wi-Fi streaming with AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect. Marshall has also embraced LE-audio/Auracast support, which opens options for broadcasting audio to multiple Auracast receivers if your setup (or your friends) supports it. The bar ships with a handful of listening modes — Music, Movie, Voice and Night — with Voice aimed at bringing out dialogue and Night smoothing loud transients so you can watch late-night action without waking the household.
The sub: Heston Sub 200
For anyone craving deeper low end, Marshall announced the Heston Sub 200. It keeps the same design language as the Heston bar, is wireless (so you can hide it behind the couch and still enjoy fewer cable regrets), and will pair with either Heston soundbar. It’s clearly meant to give the compact Heston 60 a fuller bottom end without forcing buyers into a monster-sized speaker.
Price and availability
Marshall is not pretending this is budget gear. The brand set the Heston 60 at roughly $699 / £499.99 / €599, and the Heston Sub 200 at about $599 / £429.99 / €499. Pre-orders are available now on Marshall’s site, with online availability starting September 23 and select-retailer rollouts around the end of the month. That pricing slots the Heston 60 into direct competition with compact, premium soundbars like the Sonos Beam Gen 2 or the Sennheiser/others in the mini-Atmos space — attractive to buyers who value design as much as Dolby badges.
Who should care (and who shouldn’t)
Buy the Heston 60 if:
- You want a soundbar that looks like a statement piece, not a utilitarian black bar.
- Your room is medium or small and you’d rather a neat, well-designed single box than a big multi-speaker system.
- You care about future repairability and replaceable parts — a small but meaningful vote for sustainability and longevity.
Skip it if:
- You live in a cavernous space and expect bone-shaking SPL and subwoofers that go subterranean.
- You want the absolute last word in Atmos imaging — the Heston 120 (or dedicated multi-speaker systems) will likely do more there.
The bottom line
Marshall’s Heston 60 is the company’s attempt to bottle its amp-era swagger and pour it into a compact, internet-connected soundbar. It’s a tradeoff — less raw wattage and fewer drivers than the Heston 120, but a more approachable size, thoughtful mounting options, and the same personality that makes Marshall products Instagram-friendly. For people who like their tech to look as good as it sounds (or they love the idea of a magnetic logo moving to suit their vibes), this is a compelling option — and yes, if you ask me: get the cream.
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