Even sitting unpowered on my kitchen bench, it attracted a series of “Now that’s Mickey Mouse” or “What is that?” digs from AV buddies.
Four of us — Froggy, Wolf, MacReagan and I — form an exclusive Audio-Video Sad Tragics Club (AVSTC).
We meet monthly to tech-talk about the latest gear while downing a few beverages.
B&W’s Zeppelin iPod sound system guest-starred at our last AVSTC session.
Froggy is fresh from a stint at Her Majesty’s expense in historic Beechworth.
MacReagan’s job as an airport baggage handler funded his plasma TV, but his ex wants the tele in their property settlement.
Wolfie is single — and single-minded about iPods. He flies into a rage at their mention.
Love or loathe them, Apple’s iPod range has been one of the most successful audio-video products — ever.
Since being unleashed in 2001, more than 150 million of these iconic MP3 players have been sold.
That’s 150 million reasons why the UK’s Bower & Wilkins speaker brand turned its corporate spotlight on developing and producing what looks and sounds like the world’s best one-piece iPod sound system.
Hundreds of iPod systems have been launched since 2001. Not a single one comes within cooee of Zeppelin’s head-turning style.
Only a handful of the best and most expensive models can aspire to the Zeppelin’s sound quality.
Power up the Zeppelin — which I did for the boys crammed in my kitchen — and what they heard was music played back with a sense of lifelike scale, tonal quality and musical texture.
The design
SO HOW does B&W get such delicious sound from a package that’s about twice the size of an AFL football?
The answer is: by a studied blend of cabinet shape, choice of materials and construction, the type of speakers used and the quality of the amplification.
The 61cm elongated Hindenburg airship shape is inspired acoustic engineering that minimises the type of resonances created by speakers as they fire back inside a traditional rectangular cabinet.
The specs
THE five drivers chosen for the Zep include a 13cm Kevlar bass driver powered by a dedicated 50-watt amplifier.
On either side is a 9cm mid-range driver. The high frequencies are provided by two 25mm metal-dome tweeters built into the pointy ends of the Zep’s rigid polymer and stainless-steel chassis.
Two 25-watt amplifiers generate power to the mid-range and tweeter drivers.
Inputs are a 30-pin iPod connector, USB 2.0 and a 3.5mm analogue and digital audio jack. Outputs for video are S-Video and composite.
The iPod dock is centred on the Zeppelin’s front chassis.
Installation is dead easy. Slot an iPod (any model back to 3G is compatible) into the friction-fit dock, press the Zep’s power switch and control via the supplied remote.
The only thing to irk an iPod devotee is the lack of a full-featured interface for the iPod. The supplied remote is rather basic and only controls power on/off, volume, mute, play/pause and track forward or back.
Selection of anything else — such as playlists, albums or artists — has to be done manually on the iPod.
The verdict
AFTER a few wet ones, Froggy was hooked as much by the Zep’s looks as the sound of Stairway to Heaven (no, not the bloody Rolf Harris version) filling my kitchen . . . but hopefully not so smitten he’d nick the review sample.
MacReagan wants one to go with his plasma, already hidden from his ex’s lawyers.
And though Wolfie wasn’t about to revise his low opinion of the iPod, he admits B&W’s Zeppelin is a little bit special.
That didn’t stop him loudly agreeing with one smarty-pants post at an audio forum: “It would make a great suppository for an elephant.”
