When Bowers & Wilkins released the original Zeppelin back in 2007, streaming audio was stilling getting a foothold in the mainstream. Back then many of us were still carrying around gigabytes of songs stored on iPods and other MP3 players, and to enjoy those songs sans headphones, dock-based speakers were still commonplace. Which all made industrial designer Morten Warren and his team at Native’s sleek oblong Zeppelin a memorable design. Minimalist and sculptural, the B&W looked and sounded premium compared to smaller tinny-sounding competitors. With time the B&W would jettison the docking mechanism, streamlining Warren’s design into a fully wireless speaker across numerous incarnations, culminating in perhaps its most aerodynamically spirited iteration in the form of the Bowers & Wilkins and McLaren Automotive’s Zeppelin McLaren Edition.
McLaren has built its reputation building very fast supercars that even look like they’re accelerating while parked. Sculpted to shear the air with carbon fiber bodywork, titanium, and other material applications serving the purpose of agile performance, the automotive brand’s aesthetic is unapologetically and purposefully aggressive, inside and out. McLaren supercars are if anything, distinctive.
While not as boldly sinuous, the Zeppelin McLaren Edition takes on a few McLaren-inspired details to impart an aesthetic nod to the automotive brand in this Brit-to-Brit partnership. Pairing the Zeppelin’s high-performance wireless sound with conspicuous touches, the special edition distinguishes itself most prominently with a Galvanic Grey body and Papaya Orange stand and button controls.
The vibrant Papaya Orange embellishing this special edition is a reference to the hue McLaren founder Bruce McLaren chose to adorn his earliest racing cars with.
Being limited to a styling upgrade, the rest of the Zeppelin McLaren Edition retains the same double dome tweeters, FST midrange drivers + subwoofer 24-bit high-resolution stereo sound system found in the standard Zeppelin, adding a $100 premium for this distinct edition. Like its standard counterpart, this the McLaren Edition Zeppelin can stream from Apple AirPlay 2, Bluetooth aptX Adaptive, and Spotify Connect, alongside directly from the Bowers & Wilkins Music app.
The $899 Zeppelin McLaren Edition, which joins the similarly styled Px8 McLaren Edition over-ear noise canceling headphones, is available at bowerswilkins.com for $899.
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Source: design-milk