The new Zeppelin is a completely new project, which revolves around connectivity and streaming functions, managed by the Bowers & Wilkins Music App;
It supports Deezer, Qobuz, Tidal, Spotify Connect, TuneIn, AirPlay 2, and Alexa, and will soon feature advanced Multi-Room features and add support for Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Pandora. To improve on what was already acoustically perfect, Bowers & Wilkins has drawn heavily on the technologies developed for the 600 Anniversary and 700 Series.
English: At Southwater Research & Engineering (SRE), Bowers & Wilkins' research and development center in England, they first designed a new enclosure, now made of reinforced fiberglass, 50% thicker and more robust than its predecessor, so as to be able to create a working volume for the subwoofer in a sealed box and not create problems with speaker positioning, even when placed in narrow niches or on a bookshelf. The external dimensions have remained substantially the same, 65x19. 4 cm, while the speakers are completely new, the same 2 x 2.5 cm double-dome aluminum tweeters used in the 600 Anniversary Series, 2 x 9 cm FST (Fixed Suspension Translation ) woofers/midranges and a 15 cm subwoofer. The latter is a sort of design miracle, it uses a neodymium magnet that allows it to have a long excursion without ever having to deal with the difficulty of not having sufficient magnetic field coverage.
As always at B&W, no expense is spared, and so there are 5 amplifiers in total, in a completely active amplification configuration that sees a single 80W amplifier for the subwoofer and 4 power amplifiers of 40W each for the tweeters and the two mid/bass. For a maximum power of 240W RMS and a good 480W peak. More than a medium-level Hi-Fi system.
Every element of the design – we mentioned – was developed at SRE through the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) system – an advanced modelling technique used in the aerospace and automotive industries, and already used for the new 800 Series D4 – which allowed Bowers & Wilkins to analyse every single component, improving its performance and reducing resonances, managing to finely optimise even the single fixing screw. All to obtain the best possible sound quality from a stand-alone speaker.
In the Zeppelin all inputs are upsampled through an audiophile-quality 192kHz/24bit DAC , the effect is an impressive reduction in noise and an increase in dynamics. This is made possible by the high-performance DSP with twice the processing power of its predecessor, which recreates a much more defined sound.
and clear with a truly seamless listening experience
comparisons. Zeppelin, moreover, through a dynamic equalization circuit, is able to monitor and
analyze the audio signal, optimizing it for
ensure the best sound performance at every listening level.
The new Zeppelin will be available in Black (Midnight Grey) or Grey (Pearl Grey) from early November.
Technical Features
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System: in closed case
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Speakers: 2 x 2.5cm double dome tweeters, 2 x 9cm FST midwoofers, 1
15cm subwoofer
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Amplifiers: 1x80W subwoofer, 2x40W mid/woofer, 2x40W tweeter
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Frequency response: 35Hz to 24kHz
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Compatibility: Deezer, Qobuz, TIDAL, Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect
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Alexa Compatibility
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Bluetooth 5.0 (aptX adaptive, AAC, SBC)
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Connectivity: Wi-Fi, USB-C (for service only)
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Dimensions (HxWxD): 21x19.4x65cm
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Weight: 6.3 kg
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Standby power consumption: <2W
