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Get the most from a Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin
If you have a Zeppelin, we hope that you are already enjoying the fantastic sound that it offers. But as is always the way with hi-fi, if you put a bit of thought into placement the resulting performance will improve. Small things can make a big difference in audio.
For starters, the more solid a platform you can sit your Zeppelin on the better. We’re not saying it has to be on a dedicated hi-fi rack, necessarily, but as solid a base as you can manage is a good idea. It will pay dividends with the sound.
Also, think about space. As is the case with most hi-fi speakers, a little bit of breathing room does wonders for the sound. In the case of Zeppelin the subwoofer and flowport technology perform better with a little bit of space to ‘breath’. But, as always with hi-fi, a little experimentation will allow you to get the best possible sound for your own taste and the room in which you have the system.
Also, while Zeppelin has what can comfortably be described as a ‘room filling sound’, traditional hi-fi values can help when it comes to where you place the Zeppelin for listening. If you want a high-quality stereo image - where all the musicians appear in the areas of the soundstage where the producer intended them to be, then try placing the Zeppelin directly in front of your favourite listening position - this will work especially well if you decide to use you Zeppelin to boost the sound of your television as well as an iPod speaker.
There’s also an optional Zeppelin wall-bracket. This allows you to free up some valuable shelf space, and also makes it easy to position your Zeppelin below a wall-mounted flatscreen television.
Further adjustments can also be made by using the menu system that pops up on your iPod screen when attached to Zeppelin. A new menu option called ’speakers’ appears, and from here you can adjust the bass output of Zeppelin to suit your taste. Try it, and see what works for you.
And if you have any more Zeppelin set up tips, please feel free to post them here via a comment, so that others can learn from your experiences.
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Posted by SusannaGrant on Monday, 5 October 2009 Comments (13)
Regarding the Airport Express, be sure you activated and connected the Device in iTunes, set the volume in iTunes to maximum and use the right jack at the zeppelin.
My experience is when using the “headphone” jack, that the zeppelin delievers a more decent and less louder sound. Using the zeppelin with my TV for watching movies and music videos from my iPod is ok, but also here the volume is not as loud as is could be. But this seems to be related with the video source, because on my macbook the videos are also not too loud.
My advice for iPod users, set the QE on “more hights” here in germany “mehr Höhen”.
My experience is that this preset delievers the best results.
“Jazz & Rock” are also ok, but delievers sometimes too much bass or even accurate bass.
For placing the zeppelin, a position not too close to a wall (min. 20 cm) is recommended.
If you do not use the rubber stand, use a knee hight stand for best results.
With the rubber stand, the usual sideboard hight seems to be ok.
Hi Steve,
This is covered in the Zeppelin Connectivity guide.
The airport express out should be connected to Zeppelin AUX input
Zeppelin has both analogue and optical digital input( combined socket) Zeppelin mini only has analogue aux in.
I hope this helps,
Susanna
I’d like to play the music from my macboook as well as the i-phone. I have an Apple airport express which I believe can do this wirelessly. But it’s not working by just connecting, has anyone done this & how please?
I connect my Mac Mini to the Zeppelin’s 3.5mm mini jack analogue input and listen to internet radio far more than my iPod - remember to set the output volume on your Mac to maximum and use the Zeppelin remote to control the listening level. Check out “wolfgangsvault.com” for some classic concerts.
I got my Zeppelin about 3 weeks ago and has it hooked up with a power conditioner. I do think I get better audio quality with this setup - the music has real good dimension, bass is clear not boomy, and I’m hearing details that I couldn’t hear before. For what I’m getting it’s well worth the price.
I am trying to get my Zeppelin to play other music sources, using its various cable connections… nothing seems to connect, I’ve tried with my older MP3 player using it’s line-out cable, I’ve tried with connecting to my Sony Vaio computer - USB cable and headphone jack, and I get nothing. The only player it seems to recognize is my i-pod, which is fine, but I have so much more music elsewhere. How do I get my zeppelin to play from other sources?
I just bought a Zeppelin. After hearing Ipods through many setups (even the new Bose dock 10) I have never heard one that sounded as good as the B & W Zeppelin. A very warm, detail sound through out the spectrum. If you are looking for the state of art sound for your Ipod here it is my friends.
Chris,
I had the same issue with the bass speaker setting not appearing on my iPhone 3G or my iPod Touch 2G when I first got my Zeppelin two weeks ago. I don’t know if this is a fix, but I tried rebooting my iPod by powering it off, then back on while it was plugged into the powered on Zeppelin. The setting then appeared. This worked for my iPhone as well.
I’ve got the Zeppelin on a very solid piece of furniture about six inches away from a wall. I go back and forth on the bass setting between 0 and -1. Outstanding sound! I could not be more pleased with it.
I think for some of the older ipods you won’t see the bass option. I have 3 ipods and it only comes on one of the the other two I guess are to old
Lovin’ my Zep too. Got it on hard wood desk with a nice gap from wall behind, kept the bass on 0 and it sounds great.
Chris on my iPhone the speaker setting is in the general settings menu and as yet I’ve had no recognition problems with my iPhone 3G and the Zep. I have an iPhone 3G (not 3G S) and I’m using 3.1 but had a recent update download from Apple. Hope this helps with speaker setting for you and your connection rights itself.
I purchased the wall Bracket because I felt. the speaker, needed to hang in space as a real work of art
Again the bracket is a good solid design. The Zeppelin is a joy to hear and now the sound seems magical, I no longer take my Ipod touch out and about because I can see they were made for each other. I use my old classic on my daily commute to work ect. The zeppelin is one of the best hfi hardware i have ever come to purchase. I have told friends to save up and get one and stop pissing about with silly speakers.
joy joy.
Love my Zep. Two comments, one I have never seen the bass app pop on my iPhone. 2, with 3.1 on the iPhone the Zep doesn’t always recognize. Thoughts? Email me.