British high-end audio house Bowers & Wilkins traditionally stays away from “consumer” audio devices, opting for high-end, high-performance, and unique audio solutions that typically cater to professional studios and audiophiles who wouldn’t be caught dead wearing a pair of Apple-white earbuds. So, it’s with some surprise that the company has announced its first iPod speaker system, the Zeppelin, a two foot-wide, black oblong oval thing that calls to mind nothing so much as…well, a blimp.
“The iPod deserves no less than the best audio reproduction possible, and we believe Zeppelin delivers the truest, most life-like sound from it,” said Evert Huizing, B&W’s executive VP of business development, in a release. “We’ve incorporated our 40 years of technology and know-how into a product that we hope will allow us to introduce a new market to the level of sound quality enjoyed by professionals every day.”
Specs on the Zeppelin haven’t been releases—B&W is planning on launching a full site about the Zeppelin on September 3—but we do know the center of the unit houses a bass system—which would tend to mean the smaller drivers and tweeters are stashed in the pointy bits at the ends—and the company is touting it as a high-performance system crafted from the same technologies it puts into its studio-quality gear. The Zeppelin is finished in stainless steel, and B&W is clearly going for the upscale home and office market. Naturally, the unit sports an front-facing iPod dock, and is “Made for iPod” certified.
Bowers & Wilkins plays to offer the Zeppelin through select Apple Stores and Apple’s online store beginning in September at a $599 price point; for that kind of money, we hope it at least has a remote.
