Bowers and Wilkins P5 Headphones Repair

The Bowers and Wilkins P5 headphones were released in 2010 as the company’s first foray into the headphone market. The P5 is an over-ear headphone, so its leather earpads sit atop your ears instead of surrounding them. The earpads are held to the rest of the headphones using magnets, so they can easily be popped off and replaced if yours are starting to wear down. The aluminum arms on the side allow the earpads to swivel and lay flat for travel.

Since the cable on headphones is the most commonly damaged part, the P5 has a detachable cable which is routed under one of the earpads. The P5 comes with two cables: one with an inline microphone/remote and the other without. B&W still sells both types of cables; here are links to the remote cable and the basic cable. In case they stop selling these cables at some point, the basic cable can be found online as a 2.5mm to 3.5mm stereo audio cable. Keep in mind, though, that the ends of the cable must be slim enough to fit behind the earpad.

The P5 headphones were replaced with the P5 Series 2 in 2014 and with the P5 Wireless in 2016. You can identify all B&W headphones by looking for the name “Bowers & Wilkins“ on the the sides. The P5 series specifically has a vertical aluminum cylinder (see pictures of all B&W headphones on their support website) between the earpads and the headband. The original P5 is the only model with a headphone jack located under the earpad and above the driver grille. The P5 Series 2 and P5 Wireless have a headphone jack below the grille.

Drivers

• 40 mm
• 26 ohm impedance
• 10 Hz to 20 kHz frequency range

Body

• 2.5 mm TRS stereo audio jack
• Closed back
• 195 grams

B&W P5 support page

B&W P5 official specifications

P5 cable with remote from B&W

P5 standard cable from B&W

Bowers and Wilkins on Wikipedia