Sonos x Ikea multi-room range includes the best sounding table lamp you'll EVER hear

Sonos x Ikea Symfonisk collaboration is on sale NOW

Sonos x Ikea Symfonisk
(Image credit: Sonos x Ikea)
Duncan Bell
By Duncan Bell
last updated

If you like Ikea furniture and you like Sonos multi-room speakers, you will LOVE Sonos x Ikea Symfonisk. 

• Shop Ikea x Sonos Symfonisk collection at Ikea (opens in new tab)

Potentially the start of a long-running collaboration between the two iconic brands, Symfonisk so far comprises a bookshelf wireless speaker – fairly standard, although it can be wall mounted – and, more interestingly, a musical table lamp.

Sonos x Ikea

Sonos x Ikea Symfonisk table lamps are speakers for people who really don't like the look of normal speakers

(Image credit: Sonos x Ikea)

Available in off-white or off-black the Sonos x Ikea Symfonisk table lamp is also, clearly, a Sonos speaker that costs only £150 – and is also a table lamp, which is not something you can say about the Sonos One, for instance.

It takes E14 bulbs (small screw-in; in true Ikea style, none is provided with the lamp) and is a rather attractive modern design, to my eyes. In ABS plastic with a aluminium on/off knob and mouth-blown glass shade, it would fit well with any modern or contemporary décor and in some more traditional settings too.

However the big sell here is clearly the Sonos element. This is not just a speaker made by Sonos; it's a full-fledged Sonos multi-room-ready speaker, with 2 class-D digital amplifiers firing a tweeter and mid woofer. 

Does the Sonos x Ikea Symfonisk speaker sound good?

Well, put it this way. Compared to any other Sonos speaker it sounds a little inferior. It's a bit tinny, although after some running in, and placed on a concrete sideboard, I did get a fairly rounded and pleasing sound out of it.

However, by the standards of any table lamp I have listened to, it sounds f**king great. There is truly no other table lamp out there to touch it for audio chops. 

It's entirely understandable that some sonic corners have had to be cut to fit a Sonos into a lamp, at a lower price than any previous Sonos speaker – even the small and elderly Play: 1 is pricier – but it certainly does not sound bad.

Sonos x Ikea Symfonisk

The Symfonisk table lamp has an oversized on/off knob for the light and discrete buttons to control volume and play/pause on the base

(Image credit: Sonos x Ikea)
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I was genuinely surprised that it uses the exact same setup and app as every other Sonos speaker. I don't know why I was surprised as that is the obvious approach to take, but due to the lower than usual price point, I assumed Sonos would make it more like a Bluetooth speaker. But no, you get access to all the streaming services, AirPlay 2 and even the bizarre Trueplay room tuning feature. With this you walk around the room the speaker is in, gently wafting your phone about to 'tune' it to the room's acoustic qualities – whilst feeling, it must be said, an absolute nana.

There's no built-in voice AI control but you can use it via Sonos' Google and Alexa apps if you have an Echo or Google Home device. 

Now okay, I have no idea if anyone out there wants an Ikea lamp and a Sonos speaker, and would like to buy a combination of the two rather than taking the usual route of buying one of each. However in certain rooms, a pair of these could be very handy as rear surrounds in conjunction with a Sonos soundbar such as Sonos Beam. And some people I guess just hate the look of normal speakers, or have very minimal space, or a very minimalist aesthetic.

the Sonos x Ikea bookshelf speaker: sadly not a speaker that is also a bookshelf (or not a very big or supportive one anyway)

(Image credit: Sonos x Ikea)
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The Symfonisk bookshelf speaker is also quite a strong product – again a bit thin sounding compared to a 'proper' Sonos speaker but by no means bad – and at £99 is by far the cheapest Sonos you can get. 

That, however, is only a speaker, albeit a chic and compact one. 

This whole idea of 'sonic furniture' which the Symfonisk table lamp ushers in, is altogether more interesting. I suspect it will sell like hot cakes on the looks, novelty value and dual brand loyalty alone. The obvious thing to pair with it? A Philips Hue E14 smart bulb (opens in new tab), of course…

• Shop Ikea x Sonos Symfonisk collection at Ikea (opens in new tab)

TOPICS
Audio Connected Home
Duncan Bell
Duncan Bell

Duncan has been writing about tech for almost 15 years, during which time he has attended every event going, apart from Apple ones, as he mysteriously doesn't get invited to them. He has covered everything from smartphones to headphones, TV to AC and air fryers to the movies of James Bond and obscure anime. 

Duncan's current brief is everything to do with the home and kitchen, which is good because he is an excellent cook, if he says so himself. He also covers cycling and ebikes – like over-using italics, this is another passion of his. Duncan also edits T3's golf section because fuck it, someone has to. Dave Usher does all the real work on that bit, though. In his long and varied lifestyle-tech career he is one of the few people to have been a fitness editor despite being unfit and a cars editor for not one but two websites, despite being unable to drive. He also has about 400 vacuum cleaners, and is possibly the UK's leading expert on cordless vacuum cleaners, despite being decidedly messy. A cricket fan for over 30 years, he also recently become T3's cricket editor, writing about how to stream obscure T20 tournaments, and turning out some typically no-nonsense opinions on the world's top teams and players.

Before T3, Duncan was a music and film reviewer, worked for a magazine about gambling that employed a surprisingly large number of convicted criminals, and then a magazine called Bizarre that was essentially like a cross between Reddit and DeviantArt, before the invention of the internet. There was also a lengthy period where he essentially wrote all of T3 magazine every month for about 3 years. 

A broadcaster, raconteur and public speaker, Duncan used to be on telly loads, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that, so he now largely contents himself with telling people, "I used to be on the TV, you know."


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