Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin
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Keep the Box
We suggest you keep the shipping box or boxes for at least 30 days. It is actually a great idea to keep boxes for audio products for the life of the product. Having the box and all packing will increase the trade-in value should you decide to move up and they are handy to have should you ever need to send the unit in for repair.
How To Receive a Motor Freight Order
The trucking company will contact you to schedule a convenient time to deliver the order. Please note that you must be present for delivery.
Visually inspect the box to make sure you see no signs of damage. If you notice any damage at all, take some pictures with your phone and make a note of them on the delivery receipt the driver will ask you to sign. If it is obvious that the product is damaged, please refuse the order and contact us immediately at 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com.
Open your box as soon as possible and inspect the product for damage and contact us if you find anything wrong.
uShip In-Home Delivery
Due to current concerns surrounding COVID-19, uShip is able to offer THRESHOLD SERVICE ONLY at this time. To ensure everyone’s safety, uShip is advising carriers to refrain from making room-of-choice deliveries. Threshold service consists of the shipment being brought into the first door of the address or the lobby of an apartment/condo, and does not include set-up, installation, assembly or debris removal.
What to Expect: Most oversized items will be delivered within 2-3 weeks. Your carrier will place your item inside the first door of the address or the lobby of an apartment/condo.
Appointment Scheduling: Your delivery partner will call 24-48 hours prior to delivery to arrange an appointment window.
How to prepare for in-home delivery:
- Determine the clearest path from the street to your home
- Measure entrances and hallways to ensure your item will fit
- Remove any wall hangings or clutter to ensure a clear path and to prevent damages
- Remove old furnishings to allow placement for your new piece
Check your furniture for damages: We rarely expect damaged furniture, but in the instance it does happen, we have you covered. Once your item’s packaging is removed, check for any damages that may have occurred in transit. Take pictures of any damages and notate appropriately on the delivery receipt. Keep possession of the damaged piece and contact us via phone or email and we’ll start the process to repair/replace your new piece of furniture. For uShip customer support, please call 800-698-7447.
At Audio Advice, we pride ourselves on customer satisfaction. We'll bend over backward to make sure you're 100% satisfied and we won't accept anything less. We offer 30-day hassle-free returns and personalized service from real, live people.
If an item doesn't meet your expectations, you may return or exchange it in its original condition and packaging within 30 days for a full refund, minus shipping fees. Items shipped back in like new condition through standard shipping carriers will only incur a flat fee of $15 to return. If the items were initially shipped through free scheduled delivery via motor freight (commonly referred to as LTL), returning them will result in return shipping fees starting at $150. These items include but are not limited to, oversized items such as TVs, certain subwoofers, floorstanding speakers, furniture, and most items weighing over 75 pounds. Return fees will also apply for exchanges. We want to treat your system as if it is our own and want you to be completely satisfied with your purchase.
Please see the instructions below. We only accept returns for any product purchased directly from our website. If merchandise is not returned in its original condition or is missing packaging, manuals, accessories or other parts, or the resale value of the product has been impaired, a partial refund will be given and calculated on a case-by-case basis.
Non-Returnable Items
The following items cannot be returned or cancelled:
- Special/Custom Order Items
- Open Box Products
- Gift Cards
- In-ear headphones cannot be returned once the packaging has been opened due to personal hygiene reasons. Please contact our customer care team if you'd like help choosing.
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Turntables With a Broken Stylus: All turntables ship out with the stylus intact. If you return a turntable or phono cartridge with a broken or missing stylus you will be subject to a return fee. Please be careful when setting up your turntable and contact us with any questions.
Is It Easy To Return An Item?
Yes, simply give us a call at 888.899.8776 or you can email our support team at support@audioadvice.com. Many times our team of experts can help figure out why the product might not be working like you expected and get things fixed over the phone, so don’t be surprised if we ask a few questions, we love troubleshooting!
If our tech help can not make you happy, we will email over a return shipping label with a Return Number.
Hopefully, you saved all of the original item’s box and packaging inserts. You will want to pack back up your return or exchange in the same way it came out of the original box. Once you have everything packaged correctly, tape the box on the top and bottom to assure it stays together. If Audio Advice shipped the item to you inside a second box, it's a good idea to use that same extra box to help prevent damage on its way back to us. To avoid it accidentally coming back to you, use a magic marker to cross out the old shipping label or just tear it off.
The return shipping label we send you will have our address on it, just make sure you take the box to the right shipper (UPS, FEDEX, or USPS) as per the label.
If you are close to one of our stores, please let us know if it is more convenient for you to return it to us directly. You will still need to get a return number by contacting us and shipping and/or restocking charges may apply.
When Will I See My Refund?
It usually takes around 7-14 days for the refund to show up on the payment method you used. We do inspect all returns for damage and accuracy of the item inside the box before issuing a refund. Some items may be subject to shipping and restocking fees.
Can I Exchange My Purchase For Something Different?
Sometimes those big speakers just don’t fit in the room or you might have bought a small subwoofer and later found out you’d love a bigger one. If you would like to make an exchange within 30 days of receiving your item, just give us a call at 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com and we will help work out the details. Additional shipping charges and return costs may apply.
How Do I Cancel An Order?
If the item has already shipped out or is a special order item, it is not possible to cancel the order. Please contact us at 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com to start the return process.
What If I Find Shipping Damage?
We need to know right away about any shipping damage. Please contact us at 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com within 48 hours of your delivery so we can get the ball rolling on making things right. It’s very helpful to take some pictures and email them to us if possible.
Can I Refuse A Shipment?
You can, but unless the item is damaged, shipping and restocking fees will be deducted from your refund. If your item arrives damaged and you are lucky enough to be there, snap some quick pics and refuse the order. Then contact us so we can get a replacement on the way.
What Happens If My Order Is Defective?
This is actually pretty rare, most consumer electronics work fine out of the box 99.9% of the time. We’d like for you to contact us first by calling 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com so we can help get to the bottom of things. If your item is indeed defective during the first 30 days, we can usually exchange it for a new, replacement unit.
What About Service After 30 Days?
Audio Advice has a great relationship with all of our brands and can help you with warranty service by the brand after our 30-day guarantee period. Even after the warranty expires, we can arrange for service by the brand on products purchased from Audio Advice. Just call 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com.
How Do You Determine A Restocking Fee?
You may not believe it, but sometimes we receive items back that were put in the box with zero packaging and are completely destroyed or are missing many of the pieces that came with the item. We also track serial numbers and will get back different serial numbers. We’ve even seen different items than what we shipped out be returned. However, it’s very important to package your return properly so that nothing goes missing or gets damaged in shipping, which will result in a restocking fee or even no refund at all. If a product is opened and the market value of the product is reduced, then a restocking fee may be applied to the cost of restocking and the reduced market value of the product. The bottom line is if you treat us fairly, we will do the same.
Audio Advice strives to provide industry-leading support and service while also maintaining the lowest prices available on products for our customers. We work hard with our vendors to bring our customers the best products at each price point. As a part of that process, we work with our vendors to provide the lowest pricing in our stores and on our website.
Our prices should always be the same as any other authorized dealer, including big-box retailers and major online retailers.
If you believe that you have found a lower advertised price from a legitimate authorized seller, call us and let us know so we can make sure we can correct any inadvertent error on our side. As a matter of policy, we update our prices automatically if a vendor changes its authorized pricing policies, so we generally have the best prices all the time. Increasingly, there are knock-off copies of products online, usually sold by non-authorized dealers.
Please be sure that the item meets the following conditions:
- The item is brand new, in stock, and available for purchase
- The item has the identical model number, color, etc as the item on our site.
- The seller is an authorized dealer
As always, our goal is to provide a terrific customer experience, including industry low prices. We appreciate your support.
Overview
The High Notes
The Beauty of Sound
Myriad of Ways to Play Music
Loaded with Great B&W Audio Technology
Company & Product Overview
The B&W Zeppelin was first introduced in 2007. Back then, iPod docks were becoming extremely popular as people moved from physical media to iTunes with all of their music stored on their iPod. The market was full of relatively inexpensive docks that sounded just ok. Bowers & Wilkins rocked the world with the Zeppelin. Not only did it just look totally cool, but it had the sound you would expect from B&W, big, rich, full, and accurate. We loved the first Zeppelin and many of our customers still have them in use today with a vintage iPod.
The original Zeppelin was by far the most expensive unit of its time, but the sound and design made it totally worth the cost. It set a trend for more expensive docks that tried to compete, but those competitors just helped show people how much better the Zeppelin was and it became dominant, with a 90% market share above $500. That tells you how good it was.
As iPods waned in popularity with streaming coming on, B&W made two more models of the Zeppelin, the Zeppelin Air in 2011, and the Zeppelin Wireless in 2015. These brought in more streaming options and also had some updates to the components for better performance.
Bowers & Wilkins is one of those great companies that take what they learn making their 30K+ loudspeakers and eventually trickle down that technology even into something like the Zeppelin. We were very sad when the Zeppelin was discontinued as we loved the look and the sound.
Well, it seems like it was just more than Audio Advice who was disappointed to see the Zeppelin go, as it is back and much better than ever before!
Design & Build Quality
There is no question, the design of the Zeppelin is totally distinctive. It does remind you of an actual zeppelin, but it will certainly last longer than the Hindenburg as it is built to very high standards! The two color choices are midnight grey or pearl grey and we love the way it mates up to the sleek aluminum stand that tilts it up to better fill your space with sound. For a cool factor, there is even a small light under the Zeppelin you can turn on to give it a glow.
It will certainly arrive to you in perfect condition as we have never seen a unit packed so well although the packing could be a bit more eco-friendly. We were also happy to see there will be an optional wall bracket available for permanent mounting.
You will not find any connections on the back other than power and a USB-C port for service, as the new Zeppelin is all about wireless.
Just behind where the grill meets the cabinet, there are small buttons for your typical functions which we see very handy for changing volume or skipping tracks on a playlist without having to pick up your smartphone.
Features & Technology
B&W decided on the shape of the original Zeppelin for two reasons and actually, the first one was more about speaker design than the cool factor which was the second reason. If you look at the most expensive B&W speakers, you will notice the high frequency and midrange speaker drivers are in housings that are curved and tapered, very similar to the look of the Zeppelin. This type of shape greatly reduces speaker diffraction and delivers a more precise and uncolored sound into the room. Plus it does just look really great!
For the speaker components in the new Zeppelin, B&W basically took very similar drivers from their home speakers. First, the cabinet was designed using finite element analysis which resulted in an enclosure with thick walls and a custom-designed port for the bass driver.
For the bass, there is a 6” driver that acts as a subwoofer. It sits right in the middle of the cabinet. This driver is similar to the one from the Zeppelin Wireless.
From there, you get discrete drivers for the left and right channels. The tweeter is a Double Dome design that comes from the B&W 600 Series Anniversary Edition speakers.
The 3 ½” midrange driver uses their FST (Fixed Suspension Technology) which comes from all of their better floor standing speakers.
These are powered with 5 discrete amps that were specifically designed to perfectly mate with the drivers and acoustic characteristics of the enclosure.
When you look at this tech, you are truly getting speaker components that you would expect to see in their expensive, high-performance speakers. It’s no wonder it sounds so good!
In terms of easy access to music, the new Zeppelin takes things far beyond the last version. B&W spent a lot of R&D time on their wireless Formation line of products and the new Zeppelin gets the benefit of all this great tech. The B&W music app is super easy to use and now includes Deezer, NTS Radio, Qobuz, SoundCloud, TIDAL, and TuneIn. Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Pandora will also be added very soon. There is an app for both the iOs and Android ecosystem. What is also great about this software platform is it can be updated over time to offer new features and performance improvements. One really great feature of the app is if you have multiple music services, it will combine your playlists and favorite albums into one view.
If that were not enough, Spotify Connect (with Spotify HiFi coming shortly), Airplay2, and Bluetooth aptX are also all there. For voice control lovers, Alexa is there too!
The DAC’s used in the new Zeppelin are capable of 24/96 Hi-Res Audio. Finally, you can use the B&W app for multiroom audio for more than one Zeppelin or it can be paired with any of the Formation products or wireless headphones that use the app.
For those of you wanting to use this to augment your TV sound or connect a turntable, there is an absence of any kind of input. B&W decided to make the Zeppelin all about great music streaming and nothing else.
Performance
Setting up the Zeppelin is a snap with the B&W Music app. It will find your unit, you give it a name, then enter your network password and you are done. Within the app, you can add any of the supported music services, which then show up in your library. Or you can simply stream to it using AirPlay2 or Bluetooth.
We tested the Zeppelin with Tidal and a few familiar tracks we use as standards for testing. B&W calls the new Zeppelin “The Beauty of Sound” and after playing, we have to totally agree. This unit just sounds incredible for its price (which by the way with inflation is almost to the penny what the original one sold for) and looks like a piece of art in most rooms.
Most people will probably put their Zeppelin on a counter or tabletop and have the rear of it close to a wall. This does offer the most bass reinforcement, but to our ears, it sounded the best in the space we tested it about 6” off the rear wall. But here is the great part. B&W has tone controls in the app. We found if we placed it right against the rear wall and reduced the bass by 2 dB, it sounded very similar to the position further out in the room. The tone controls will give you a lot of flexibility in placement.
The Zeppelin produces room-filling sound, but it does not do anything sneaky with speaker phasing to try and make it sound bigger than it really is- which we really appreciate. As you walk off-axis, the high frequencies stay very clear, but as will any speaker, the midrange does drop off as those drivers are more directional. It presented a very consistent sound within about a 60-degree range from its center, which is fantastic and will cover most rooms with rich sound.
When we played our favorite rhythm and pacing cut, Pink Houses, the Zeppelin had our toes tapping. Everything was perfectly in sync. Vocals on tracks from Joni Mitchell and Dave Matthews were very true to how we expect them to sound.
The Zeppelin to our ears has a very natural presentation with no fake boost to the bass or treble, it is very pure to the music. One thing that made the original Zeppelin so popular was how you could really crank it up to fill a big space and it would not fall apart. The new one carries on that tradition and really impressed us with how loud it could get while maintaining a pure character. You also have plenty of room at the low end of the spectrum as the volume control gives you lots of room to turn it down in fine increments.
As a pure music player, we have to say, it betters everything we have heard except some of the more expensive units from McIntosh and Naim. It is far and away the best in its price class. Is it better than a pair of B&W bookshelf speakers and a nice integrated amp? No, and you should not expect it to be. But if you are looking for an all-in-one music player that is a lot better than most, the new Zeppelin should be at the top of your list!
