Bowers & Wilkins' Zeppelin iPod dock hits Apple Stores

You've waited, you've watched, you taken Houses of the Holy out of rotation in anticipation... and now it's here. That's right folks, effective today, the Bowers & Wilkins totally wild Zeppelin iPod dock is available for mass consumption. If you'll recall, the bizarre looking conversation starter sports a five-inch woofer, glass fiber cones, a 100-watt amp, and video outputs (so you can also watch The Song Remains the Same or footage of the Hindenburg tragedy on your HDTV). You can hit your local (select) Apple Stores and grab one of these $599 beauties, or you can do it the old-fashioned way and buy it online.

[Rajiv Kotecha @ Sep 18th 2007 10:16AM]

Finally, a respectable speaker dock for the iPod. Of course, plugging into an amp is preferable but at least now there is a viable alternative. Of course, i should reserve judgement until i hear it, but, B&W normally delivers the goods sonically :)

[Christian @ Sep 19th 2007 10:55AM]

Kajiv, did you see, that DENON produces an iPod dock for thier amps? It enables you to control your ipod from the amps remote.

[Larz @ Sep 18th 2007 3:26PM]

I suppose... but it just seems like a huge waste of money. I mean come on, $600 for an iPod dock? I'd rather get a more flexible system. For that kind of cash you could buy some huge PA speakers and a 600 watt head. And as any true audiophile will agree, bigger is better.

Of course, there are other schools of thought though. Even if I wanted compactness I wouldn't buy this either, I'd just get a small dock that could route into an existing home theater or something.

[ryantrevisol @ Sep 18th 2007 10:18AM]

Great for getting the Led out. . . .
. . . but for $600 I could put together a great budget budget home theater.

[Jeff @ Sep 18th 2007 10:43AM]

Certainly not with B&W quality sound...

but sure, $600 could get you a crappy sony theater-in-a-box, but i bet you that this zeppelin would sound better. :)

[Josh Warner @ Sep 18th 2007 12:14PM]

@ Jeff:

WRONG. B&W's small bookshelf speakers in the DM6xx line can be had for half that cost. And an extra $300 will net a VERY nice stereo receiver from the likes of Harman Kardon, Onkyo, or a vintage classic from the 80's off Ebay with cash to spare for cables and then some.

Also, there is a reason that good amp companies don't make speakers and vice versa - the commitment to design and building one precludes the other. Example: All of Sony's speakers suck, but their better (ES) line of receivers is high quality. Buying all-in-one setups like this is stupid, plain and simple - it works only for one device, whereas the system I describe above has multiple inputs and will withstand the test of time, and it mates (probably) good drivers with (undoubtedly) inferior amplification developed by a speaker manufacturer. Note that subwoofer amps do not count; they are Class D switching affairs that are built for power, not finesse.

Anybody who buys this just flushed $600 down the drain. If you're tempted to do that, please just send $600 to my PayPal instead. Trust me, it'll be for the best.

[ryantrevisol @ Sep 18th 2007 12:17PM]

Thanks Josh, I tried to reply to that effect, but more along the lines of, for my waxy ears, I really enjoy Fluance's 5-speaker theater systems. The floorstanding left and right speakers double as very nice hi-fi speakers, and if you add a cheap (or in my case, already owned) subwoofer, they make a pretty nice setup. As was stated, an amp isn't that expensive, and you could even throw in an HD-Upconverting DVD player in there, and still be under $600.

[max andrews @ Sep 18th 2007 1:00PM]

For $250 and a little elbow grease you can make your own speakers that will sound as good as a $1000+ set: http://www.zaphaudio.com/BAMTM.html (sounds better than polk audio's LSi9 series)

There's a ton more here for every size and budget requirement: http://www.partsexpress.com/projectshowcase/projects.cfm

and even more here: http://www.rjbaudio.com/projects.html

I've built several projects and the sound is phenomenal, I'll never be ripped off by bose or any similar company again.

[John M @ Sep 18th 2007 10:26AM]

Hmm most of these ipod speaker docks work with the iphone...wonder if this does...

[Jeff @ Sep 18th 2007 10:58AM]

From the B&W Zeppelin FAQ:

"9. Using an iPhone with Zeppelin.

Zeppelin will play music from the iPhone, but the iPhone does not yet know that Zeppelin is unlike virtually all the other docking speaker systems on the market in this respect. So when you dock an iPhone, it will display one of two messages.

If the phone function is disabled, the message is:
""This accessory is not made to work with iPhone. OK?""
Simply press OK and the iPhone will behave with full functionality as described in Zeppelin's owner's manual just like a 5G iPod, except of course that the interface is different.

If the phone function is enabled, the message is:
""This accessory is not made to work with iPhone. Would you like to turn on Airplane Mode to reduce audio interference (you will not be able to make or receive calls)? Yes/No""
If you press Yes, the phone function is disabled and the previous condition applies. If you press No, you can still listen to music, because we have taken care to make Zeppelin immune to interference. If you have an incoming call, the iPhone will ring through Zeppelin and mute the music.

To take the call, remove the iPhone from Zeppelin and replace it when the call is finished. The iPhone currently does not support phone operation while docked."

[peyote @ Sep 18th 2007 11:42AM]

my ipod connector with clarion car unit allows calls to be made with out unplugging. you have to have the headset plugged in before you plug ipod to connector. if you plug headset in after, sound ends up through you headset.

when call comes in, just click the answer button on headset. my question for those that have a bluetooth headset & ipod connector (car or home strereo), will this work with bluetooth? this would be a viable solution if it did.

[Zach @ Sep 18th 2007 12:45PM]

That would go for one hyper-powered speaker phone.

[strider_mt2k @ Sep 18th 2007 10:43AM]

Oh my! Get out of the way, please!

[Homeboy @ Sep 18th 2007 11:02AM]

Sexy but for that cash I can step into a HiFi store. Buy a 2 channel NAD, Cambridge or Denon amplifier + a set of DALI speaker. + an Apple Dock.

I might not get the sexy all in one design but I'd get better sound than what this over expensive dock offers. It probably sounds very good though B&W do offer high quality stuff.

[saq @ Sep 18th 2007 10:58AM]

This is an interesting piece of equipment. Years ago I got a phone call from B&W doing a poll if the iPod was an important piece of my music collection and if I would be interested in a B&W engineered iPod sound system. I suppose this is what came of it.

[Jason Chan @ Sep 18th 2007 11:09AM]

@ saq - I got an email from them asking about the same thing. Looks like it came to fruition.

[ShoKosugi @ Sep 18th 2007 11:28AM]

That's Buster Machine 3...

http://www.gunbuster.net/Visual/Episode6/gb603.jpg

[Melissa @ Sep 18th 2007 12:21PM]

You beat me to it! That's totally Buster Machine 3. Coach would totally have one of these on his A/V rack.

I wonder if it'd fit my Cowon X5.

[Wall @ Sep 18th 2007 3:19PM]

I said that out loud when i saw the pic

[StevenAFC @ Sep 18th 2007 11:47AM]

Does it come with a remote? If so im sold, that thing is magnificent.

[kkowalczyk @ Sep 18th 2007 11:57AM]

Oh the Humanity!!!

[sajonfalcon @ Sep 18th 2007 12:15PM]

Shouldn't I just wait until November and buy it $400?

[oliversolo @ Sep 18th 2007 12:24PM]

"Great for getting the Led out. . . .
. . . but for $600 I could put together a great budget budget home theater."

ryantrevisol, are you serious? A great sounding HT system for $600. If you think you are, then you probably are not the authority on sound quality here.

You are going to provide us with 5 speakers, a sub, a processor and a dvd player for $600? And all of it together sounds great? It's statements like that that keep people wasting their money.

I am not saying this ipod dock from B&W will sound good at all.... doesn't seem possible, especially under any scrutiny.....

[Chris @ Sep 19th 2007 11:30AM]

A 5.1 for 600 is pushing it, but putting a 2.1 system together for under $600 that will wollop this is easy.

[caryslewis @ Sep 18th 2007 12:33PM]

Hindenburg tragedy and Song Remains the Same. Best juxtaposition ever.

[required @ Sep 18th 2007 1:37PM]

more football than blimp and fugly to boot

[CharlieX @ Sep 18th 2007 2:06PM]

I have owned B&W speakers for years.... nothing matches them, nothing. But this looks like a piece of football shaped crap.

[Galley @ Sep 19th 2007 8:36AM]

From the iLounge.com review:

Worth noting is the unusual presence of a partially new Speakers menu on the iPod’s main screen (and iPhone’s Settings menu) when Zeppelin is used; the only other speaker with such capabilities is Apple’s own iPod Hi-Fi, and B&W’s implementation is a little different; this, along with the system’s ability to mirror its volume to the adjusted level of the connected iPod or iPhone, suggests that Apple played an unusual role in Zeppelin’s development. Here, the Speakers menu permits -3, -2, -1, 0, and +1 adjustments to the unit’s bass performance, with +1 augmenting the bass past the 0 default, and the negatives reducing the bass presence below the standard level. On +1, Zeppelin reaches a little lower than the AudioStation and bass tube-assisted iM7, but we found the resulting sound chunkier and less pleasant as a result. The negative numbers reduce the system’s low-end to levels that may better suit certain listeners, room acoustics, and songs; we found the system most enjoyable at 0 or -1.

[pspiegel @ Sep 19th 2007 11:02PM]

@StevenAFC

yes it comes with a remote, i just picked one of these up today, the people at the apple store didn't even know they had them.. it sounds great though!