IKEA Symfonisk speakers review: Sonos made sure they sound great, but that Scandi-chic lamp design is polarizing

IKEA’s Symfonisk WiFi speakers—a current collaboration between the Swedish residence furnishings retailer and U.S.-based wi-fi multi-room audio producer Sonos—are coming to IKEA’s on-line and brick-and-mortar shops on August 1. The Symfonisk (pronounced sim-fawn-isk) bookshelf speaker is a incredible worth. The Symfonisk speaker lamp sounds nice, too, but I’m not a fan of its industrial design—and that’s placing it mildly (solely the bookshelf speaker scored a TechHive Editors’ Choice award). You, after all, may need a really completely different opinion about its appears to be like.

Both speakers are co-branded with the Sonos and IKEA labels, two of both might be configured as a left/proper stereo pair or as left/proper rear channels with a Sonos soundbar, and each can function along with different Sonos speakers on the identical community. Pairing can solely be completed with like speakers, but you’ll be able to hyperlink both speaker to the Sonos Sub (nevertheless unlikely that may ever be given the disparity within the value tags of those speakers and the Sub).

Symfonisk speakers incorporate the complete Sonos function set, together with help for Apple’s AirPlay 2 protocol, Sonos’ Trueplay speaker-tuning software program (which requires an iOS gadget), and the flexibility to stream music from the unparalleled assortment of music-streaming companies that Sonos helps (Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL, Qobuz, and on and on).

IKEA

Neither of those fashions is a sensible speaker, but they might be managed with voice instructions in case you have an Amazon Alexa- or Google Assistant-compatible gadget. IKEA says it’s going to introduce a appropriate distant management and incorporate help for each speakers into its IKEA Home good app (presently branded TRÅDFRI and accessible for Android and iOS) this fall.

Symfonisk WiFi bookshelf speaker

The bookshelf model of the Symfonisk speaker might be oriented both vertically or horizontally. In the latter state of affairs, it may be held on a wall (with an elective rail equipment) and function an precise bookshelf. It measures 12 x 6 x four inches (LxWxH) and weighs four kilos 12 ounces. The speaker’s front-ported enclosure is fabricated from ABS plastic with silicone rubber ft, and it’s accessible in both white with a white material grill, or black with a black material grill (the grills will not be detachable). If you may have the community infrastructure to make the most of it, you’ll discover an RJ45 ethernet port on the again of the speaker (the speaker lamp is additionally outfitted with an ethernet port).

You’ll discover the same old Sonos management buttons close to the bottom of the speaker, from left to proper: Volume down, play/pause, and quantity up. A double-press on the play/pause button skips to the subsequent monitor, whereas a triple-press strikes to the earlier monitor in your queue. When the speaker is laid down, these controls are stacked, backside to high, on the right-hand facet.

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