It took four years to do it, but Sonos and Ikea have sooner or later discovered their new wireless audio system. The so-called Symfonisk series consists of a bookshelf-fashion speaker that doubles as a real bookshelf and a lamp with a speaker in its base. Like many Ikea furniture, the two new products are quirky and realistic. They’re additionally complete-fledged but less expensive Sonos speakers.
In common style, Ikea refers to the brand new lamp speaker now not as a machine but as “a super looking piece of furnishings.” While reasonable human beings should debate whether the new lamp does certainly appearance wonderful, the application of the issue is pretty obvious. It’s a lamp that is additionally a wireless Sonos speaker. So in case you wanted mild and track, you do not need to muddle up your private home with two different things.
“Tabletops are continually competitive,” Tad Toulis, VP of design at Sonos, advised Gizmodo in an interview. “We’re truely seeking to get into houses as they’re, meet human beings in which they are.”
The speaker itself in the Symfonisk desk lamp, Toulis went on to provide an explanation for, is sort of equal to the Sonos Play:1 in terms of electricity and sound great, with its drivers going through forward. (Neither Sonos nor Ikea could pass into similarly detail about motive force array or other speaker guts.) The desk lamp does not come geared up with a microphone, so that you received’t have the ability to talk to Alexa or Google Assistant. You additionally received’t should fear about the artificially smart assistants spying on you. The table lamp is also less expensive than a $two hundred Sonos One. The Ikea speaker lamp fees $180.
Wacky as the brand new speaker lamp seems, but, the brand new Symfonisk bookshelf speaker is even greater interesting. It comes with brackets on the back so you can mount it to a wall, and it’s strong enough to double as a shelf. You can also lie it down on a counter or stand it up vertically in a bookshelf. Ikea says that its dimensions were mainly tailor-made to suit into certain Ikea structures, just like the Kallax bookshelf series. And because it’s roughly the scale and form of a big book, it’ll be combination in nicely with its environment. The Symfonisk bookshelf speaker has drivers that simplest point in a single route, which must suggest it sounds exceptional than the desk-top lamp. It’s additionally first-rate reasonably-priced at $one hundred.
If you zoom out, the concept of Ikea working with a popular tech logo like Sonos appears promising. Ikea has slowly waded into the waters of consumer electronics with versatile wi-fi charging pads and wi-fi charging-prepared furniture. Ikea also began working on its clever lighting systems multiple years in the past, in the end developing an own family of merchandise that rivalled some Philips Hue products but for a fraction of the charge. By enlisting more tech organizations like Sonos, who knows what thrilling electronics class Ikea will tackle next.
Then once more, we don’t understand how the new speakers sound. The speakers are on show at Milan Design Week. However, we couldn’t make the experience. We do understand that the new Ikea speakers will work much like the Sonos audio system. They’ll use the same app and hook up with current Sonos systems. They’ll also have TruPlay technology that lets you custom song the speakers so that they have the greatest sound exceptional for the distance they’re in. And like several different Sonos speakers, the brand new Ikea audio system will now not be able to circulation track over a Bluetooth connection. They’re wifi only.
All of those functions seem neat and splendid, but we won’t know if Ikea can pull off finances Sonos audio system until we hear them. We hope to have a complete evaluate this summer season. Meanwhile, the Ikea Symfonisk range will go on sale in North America and Europe starting in August. You’ll best have the ability to buy them at Ikea stores or via Ikea’s internet site.
