Bowers & Wilkins gives its iconic Zeppelin speaker a McLaren F1 makeover

Bowers & Wilkins' partnership with racing legends McLaren has resulted in the audio experts giving their iconic Zeppelin wireless speaker a makeover – and it's got an important improvement under the hood too.

The speaker is now available in two special editions: the Zeppelin McLaren Edition and the Zeppelin McLaren 60th Anniversary Edition. The former is Galvanic Grey with orange detailing, while the latter is a vibrant orange with grey detailing. If you want the latter one you're probably out of luck: B&W is only making sixty of them. The anniversary in question is the 60th anniversary of McLaren and of founder Bruce McLaren's legacy.

This isn't the first McLaren version of an iconic B&W product; there have been several, most recently the late 2022 Px8 headphones which sported the same signature Papaya Orange highlights and Galvanic Grey colour to match one of the most common interior choices of McLaren owners.

What's new in the Zeppelin McLaren edition

In addition to the two new colours, which match McLaren's racing livery, there's now extended multi-room capability that makes the Zeppelin speaker even more connectable. This Zeppelin, and existing compatible ones too, gets wireless multi-room compatibility with B&W's Panorama 3 and Formation wireless speakers.

The Zeppelin is a great multi-room speaker if you have other B&W hardware, but it's also pretty fantastic as a stand-alone one: inside that instantly recognisable shape there's a pair of driver assemblies, a subwoofer and 240W of amplification. In our B&W Zeppelin review we gave it the full five stars for its "glorious sound quality": give it some high quality audio files "and the Zeppelin gets virtually everything right, and in some style". 

The Zeppelin McLaren Edition is available directly from B&W and from its retail partners, and like the McLaren Px8 headphones it comes with a £100 premium over the standard version: the recommended retail price is £799 / $899 / €899. Don't expect discounts any time soon: those headphones are still selling at the full RRP.

The firm hasn't said what the price of the limited edition 60th Anniversary Edition will be; to find out, you'll need to visit "select McLaren dealerships".