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IKEA's New 'Symfonisk' Sonos Speakers With AirPlay 2 Now Available for Purchase

Thursday August 1, 2019 12:56 pm PDT by Juli Clover
IKEA teamed up with Sonos to launch a new line of smart speakers called "Symfonisk," and as of today, those speakers are available for purchase in IKEA retail stores across the United States.

There are two Symfonisk products that are available: A Symfonisk Table Lamp with Wi-Fi Speaker ($179) and the Symfonisk Wi-Fi Bookshelf Speaker ($99).


The Symfonisk Table Lamp functions as a standard lamp but it's also got a smart speaker base, with "rich and vibrant sound" according to IKEA. It comes in both black and white and is designed to save space by combining a lamp with speaker functionality.


The Symfonisk Bookshelf Speaker also has a dual purpose, attaching to a wall with a speaker bracket and serving as a bookshelf for small items. The rectangular speaker can also be as a standard speaker or hung up on Symfonisk speaker hooks.

Both of the speakers can be controlled through the Sonos app and both support AirPlay 2, allowing them to be used for multi-room audio with other ‌AirPlay‌ 2 devices. As with all Sonos devices, music, podcasts, radio, and more can be streamed over Wi-Fi even without a smartphone or tablet nearby.


Purchasing two of the same speakers allows for stereo sound to be set up, and Sonos also says that two speakers paired together can be used for a Sonos home theatre system.

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence previously suggested that the Symfonisk Table Lamp's audio quality would be similar to the Sonos One speaker, and reviews have thus far been decent.

The speakers are in IKEA stores today and can be located using the website's store locator, and they should also be available online in the near future.

Tag: Ikea
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Crappyguy
11 weeks ago

The Sonos ecosystem spreads like cancer. Why would anybody spend so much on speakers that are so horribly locked in? There is no reason for this high amount of lock-down other than vendor-bondage.


I mean.....you're talking to Apple customers......we kinda' are okay with being "locked in".
Rating: 44 Votes
Avatar
ChrisJ_SLH
11 weeks ago

The Sonos ecosystem spreads like cancer. Why would anybody spend so much on speakers that are so horribly locked in? There is no reason for this high amount of lock-down other than vendor-bondage.


You have actually prompted me to create an account to respond.

SONOS supports more than 120 music services including Airplay/Apple Music, local mp3, aac, FLAC libraries. How on earth do you think this is locked down?
Rating: 29 Votes
Avatar
DaveOP
11 weeks ago

The Sonos ecosystem spreads like cancer. Why would anybody spend so much on speakers that are so horribly locked in? There is no reason for this high amount of lock-down other than vendor-bondage.


What’s the lock in? They work with Airplay, so basically every service I can think of works just fine with them.
Rating: 20 Votes
Avatar
iDento
11 weeks ago

No voice assistant on these is the one major downside. Otherwise they’re a good addition to the Sonos ecosystem.

I might add them to my setup somewhere!

Actually, no mics are not a downside.
Rating: 14 Votes
Avatar
citysnaps
11 weeks ago

Because Siri is as dumb as a rock?


Really... I've had a HomePod for about a year and a half. And every Apple Music request has been faithfully executed, at least 95% of the time. And that's from distances up to 20 feet away, with music in play.

Hardly dumb as a rock.
Rating: 10 Votes
Avatar
kis
11 weeks ago

No voice assistant on these is the one major downside. Otherwise they’re a good addition to the Sonos ecosystem.

I might add them to my setup somewhere!


Why would a Mac user want Alexa or google assistant?

Anyway, I got the lamp speaker and one of the bookshelf ones. Both set up in less than 10 minutes. Sound really good too.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
netdudeuk
11 weeks ago

The Sonos ecosystem spreads like cancer. Why would anybody spend so much on speakers that are so horribly locked in? There is no reason for this high amount of lock-down other than vendor-bondage.


Like Apple ‘speakers’ ?
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
MrGimper
11 weeks ago

The Sonos ecosystem spreads like cancer. Why would anybody spend so much on speakers that are so horribly locked in? There is no reason for this high amount of lock-down other than vendor-bondage.


I'm ok with being locked into being able to play from any source I want for non-extortionate prices or an overhead for a crappy AI
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
dernhelm
11 weeks ago

Yes, I have lot of SONOS kit and the bottom line is it just works. Great results from the Connect feeding line in to my Hi-Fi system.


I get great results from a SONOS CONNECT feeding my HI-FI System. Streams FLAC/AAC/MP3 brilliantly from a NAS controlled via phone or PC.


Second all this. I have a turntable that I use CONNECT to add into my SONOS speaker system. It took nothing to set up, and I can just drop a needle and it plays - no messing around with my phone, no flipping switches, no talking to an assistant. Just drop the needle, and it plays over the speakers.

And when I want to stream Spotify / Pandora / Apple Music / whatever on those speakers instead and don't feel like pulling out my phone I can ask Alexa to do that for me. I've had scads of bluetooth / wireless speakers, with and without Airplay, and NONE of them are engineered as thoughtfully as SONOS.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
kis
11 weeks ago

The Sonos ecosystem spreads like cancer. Why would anybody spend so much on speakers that are so horribly locked in? There is no reason for this high amount of lock-down other than vendor-bondage.


How are they locked in? They support AirPlay 2, the Sonos One has Google Assistant and amazon echo built in. They’re easily the most compatible products on the market.
Rating: 3 Votes

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