Bowers & Wilkins A5 AirPlay Wireless Music System
Bowers & Wilkins A5 AirPlay Wireless Music System
Product Information
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Overview
Pristine sound
The A5 is designed to deliver spacious sound, from the highest quality audio files, wirelessly. Drivers from Bowers & Wilkins M-1 speakers, anti-resonance plug technology, and dimpled Flowports combine with high-quality, digital-to-analog converters and processors to carry a digital signal untainted by distortion, to a room-filling, yet surprisingly compact, system.
Stay in control
Play and control music wirelessly, anywhere in the room. Or, with more than one A5 forming a multiroom system you walk your music from room to room effortlessly in the palm of your hand.
Listening how you like it
AirPlay on A5 works seamlessly with your favorite music apps, like Last.fm, Pandora, and Mixcloud.
Easy set-up
The free Bowers & Wilkins AirPlay Setup App will walk you through the simple steps to connect your A5 to Wi-Fi, and choose and manage your settings, all wirelessly.
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Highlights
- High-quality Class-D amplifier
- Single discreet, compact unit
- Comes with Apple AirPlay technology
- Optimized to handle broadest range of frequencies
- Play music wirelessly from computer, iPhone or even apps
- Pristine sound
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Did you notice?
Compact and designed to perform in out-of-the-way areas, the A5 is a great choice for places where space is at a premium. -
Apple Recommends For
Playing and controlling your music wirelessly, from anywhere in the room. -
What's in the Box?
- Bowers & Wilkins A5 AirPlay Wireless Music System
- Power supply
- Remote
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Tech Specs
- Frequency Response : 40 - 24,000 Hz
- Connections : Wireless,AirPlay
- Height : 7.1 in./180 mm
- Width : 11.8 in./300 mm
- Weight : 7.94 lb./3.6 kg
- Length : 4.7 in./120 mm
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Manufacturer Information
Part Number
- Mfr. Part Number : FP33936
- UPC or EAN No. : 714346314959
Warranty
- Note : Products sold through this website that do not bear the Apple Brand name are serviced and supported exclusively by their manufacturers in accordance with terms and conditions packaged with the products. Apple's Limited Warranty does not apply to products that are not Apple-branded, even if packaged or sold with Apple products. Please contact the manufacturer directly for technical support and customer service.
- Warranty : Two-year limited
Manufacturer Note
- Bowers & Wilkins AirPlay Setup App link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bowers-wilkins-airplay-setup/id506471253?mt=8
Compatibility
iPhone models
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iPhone 3GS
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iPhone 4
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iPhone 4S
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iPhone 5
iPad models
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iPad (1st generation)
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iPad 2 (2nd generation)
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iPad (3rd generation)
iPod models
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iPod touch 2nd Generation
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iPod touch 3rd Generation
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iPod touch 4th Generation
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iPod touch 5th Generation 32GB/64GB
Ratings & Reviews
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Beautiful Clarity and Apple Like Quality
Like other B & W products this speaker has beautiful clarity. Strings are fantastic. You hardly remember that this is only a $50 0 speaker. The build is quality and matches up nicely with apple products detailed finishes. It took me all of 2 minutes to set-up with the handy airplay set-up app. After set-up, my speaker initially cut out a few times but I simply recycled (pulled the plug and restarted) my time capsule (Wifi). Problem solved and after 6 hours of playing; no issues. It also works great with my Zeppelin on multiple speakers airplay mode. If you want a home full of beautiful sound, you can do it very inexpensively with a few of these units.
I highly recommend this speaker. I can't wait to get my B & W A7 as well. …- Written by Randy E from Collingwood
40 of 49 people found this useful
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Very good for the size
Bought this to use in a small room. The sound quality and available volume are very good for such a small device. It does, however , start distorting near full volume, but we would never use that volume for anything other than testing the speaker.
B&W are noted for producing realistic sound. If you are looking for silly bass levels, look elsewhere. If you want true to life sound quality, B&W is your brand.
The A5 is perfect for a small to medium sized room. For a bigger room the A7 may be more suitable, depending on how loud you play your music.
Setup was very easy and worked first time. I downloaded the setup app before the speaker arrived, and had it playing within a couple of minutes of plugging it in. Have your WiFi password handy for installation.
Price: It is B&W, so it will have a premium price. I believe the value is worth it. …- Written by Craig H from Smyrna
26 of 33 people found this useful
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Excellent so far
On the technical side, everything just worked. Very simple set up procedure—best AirPlay setup I've used so far, in fact. (I've se t up 4 different AirPlay speakers.)
On the audio side, I can't imagine much better sound coming out of a similar size package. I am especially glad there isn't an artificially inflated bass or other gimmicks that make it sound big on the showroom but not so good at home. Instead, this simply delivers crisp audio without distortion.
As long as you aren't expecting a wide open stereo sound stage or to experience the kind of sound you'd get out of a larger system with dedicated speaker, receiver, and amp, you will be very pleased with this product.
It's so good I'm thinking about getting the MM-1 computer speakers, which this is apparently similar too. …- Written by Jed L from Hilliard
24 of 30 people found this useful
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Sound quality is fundamentally a joke
I'm a classically trained musician, 20 years violin, 10 years acoustic guitar, I consider myself to have a very good ear.
Bot tom line, the a5 sound quality is so incredibly NOT worth $500, don't even bother. While it looks stunning, that's all you're going to get out of this box. I only had to listen to this in the store and go head to head, song for song, with the Bose Soundlink Air ($150 less) to declare the winner hands down. For all the B&W hoopla on their tweeter technology, the upper range of the A5 was just plain muffled, no articulation of treble tones. Base tones had absolutely no warmth or depth. I picked up on this even before i did the comparison, thinking maybe it was an in-store acoustic thing going on. But compare with the Bose and you get so much more with the latter.
I worry that all these tech heads are evaluating speakers based on ease of setup and AirPlay reliability, but have they all had their eardrums blown from Dr Dre beats headphones? Start with sound quality first, ladies and gentlemen, and that's where you'll quickly end with this speaker.
I brought home the Bose unit and could not be happier for the investment - great range and clarity for $350. If you have an obsession with black fabric and aluminum, buy the B&W. If you like to hear good music, turn to Bose - at least in this price range. …- Written by AARON D from San Francisco
1 of 2 people found this useful
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I want to sell it
I'm not satisfied how to work this system. As many users I have the serious problem. Sound keep dropping even when connected via E thernet to the router. …
- Written by Evgenii P from Saint-Petersburg
1 of 2 people found this useful
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does not perform as advertised
For Christmas '12 bought an A7 and an A5. The A7 works well, the A5 cannot hold a connection to the wireless. I have the latest Ai rport station. Add to frustration is sending an email to B&W and not getting any results from them. In order to send one email you have to enter so much information....various serial numbers, model numbers for the airport, what type of computer, software, etc. It is a bit maddening. There seems to be an acute issue with the software. I suggest you avoid this model, I am returning mine. …
- Written by Ercolino C from Newberg
1 of 2 people found this useful
Questions & Answers
Answers from the community
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Will the Bowers & Wilkins A5 airplay system allow BBC iPlayer Radio to stream to it from iPhone or iPad?
- Asked by Christopher M
- Mar 18, 2013
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I'd like to use the A5 as my primary audio source connected to my iMac. Can AirPlay be set up to stream all sounds and not just from iTunes?
- Asked by Matt W from Kirkwood
- Dec 2, 2012
Answer
Yes. Under sound you chose the A5 for output instead of your iMac internal speaker/s.
- Answered by Paul H
- Mar 30, 2013
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Does this work with iPad 4 ?
- Asked by Tanya V from Strathalbyn
- Mar 12, 2013
Answer
yes it does.
download the B&W app and then follow the instructions.- Answered by Rob R
- Mar 17, 2013
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Does this the B&W A5 have auto on when music is detected or do you need to use the remote and actually turn on the device each time you use it?
- Asked by Ryan B from New York
- Nov 24, 2012
Answer
As long as it is in sleep mode, and not standby mode, it will detect music coming from your network. Because it stays connected to the network in sleep mode, it will use more power when set up this way. …
- Answered by Matt W from Kirkwood
- Dec 2, 2012
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if i watch a movie on my macbook pro, will these speakers work?
- Asked by Matthew K from New York
- Nov 29, 2012
Answer
Yes simply go to settings, sound, output and choose the B&W's as your preferred speaker.
- Answered by Christopher C from Bellflower
- Mar 10, 2013
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Can I play music from my iPod Classic on AirPlay speakers?
- Asked by Dylaina D from Brisbane
- Nov 22, 2012
