Bowers & Wilkins has a habit of upgrading its products down the line. Its hi-fi speakers, its headphones and now its wireless speaker with the Zeppelin Pro Edition.
The looks remain the same distinctive, zeppelin shape as before with a few slight changes made that include a revised downlight. A more obvious change is the two new finishes in Solar Gold and Space Grey.
The main changes have occured beneath the surface with the introduction of Titanium Dome tweeters, the same speakers found in B&W’s 600 Series loudspeakers. They’re mounted at the far edges of the enclosure and in typical B&W’s style, are fully isolated from any vibrations running through the cabinet to avoid the larger speakers from affecting the sound from the tweeter.
The new tweeters work in concert with the 90mm midrange drivers that used Bower’s Fixed Suspension Transducer (FST) technology. These drive units have been upgraded with increased cone damping for a “more open midrange” performance. The digital signal processing (DSP) has been revised to optimise the sound from the drive units for Bowers claims is an “even more reveaing, foom-filling sound”. Bass is provided by a 150mm subwoofer mounted centrally to avoid unwanted ‘rocking’ of the cabinet, which in Bowers’ words, results “in a cleaner-sounding and more agile bass delivery.”
Multi-room functionality is baked into the speaker with its AirPlay 2 support, as well as its compatibility with Bowers 7 Wilkins’ Formation range of wireless speakers. You’ve also got the choice to fling audio to the speakers in the form of aptX Adaptive Bluetooth and Spotify Connect. You can also stream music via the Bowers & Wilkins Music app which features support for Deezer, Qobuz, Tidal and others.
We were impressed enough with the original Zeppelin to give it five-stars. The Zeppelin Pro Edition is on sale for £699 / $799.
