While Sonos has well and truly nailed high-quality speakers, it’s the collaboration with Ikea that has brought out some more innovative speakers, designed to blend in with your home. The newest speaker in the range is the Ikea Symfonisk picture frame.
Rather than looking like a speaker, the Ikea Symfonisk picture frame is built to look like a bit of artwork. It’s available in black or white, and there’s a selection of changeable front panels, so you can find the design that best matches your home.
Picture frame joins the existing speakers, the Ikea Symfonisk bookshelf, which looks like a traditional bookshelf speaker but can actually be used as a bookshelf) and the Ikea Symfonisk lamp, which combines a speaker with a table lamp.
While hanging the new picture frame on the wall may feel like the most natural option, the speaker can also be placed on the floor and leant against a well. In both configurations you can place the speaker in portrait or landscape modes.
You get a 3.5m power cable in the box, which can wrap around the inside of the frame, hiding excess cable from view. Cleverly, you can power multiple speakers by daisy chaining the power from one to another.
“The space-saving picture frame speaker can hang on its own as an eye-catching piece of art, be coordinated with other wall art, placed on a shelf, or even on the floor leant against a wall. The interchangeable fronts make it easy to choose a style that suits your individual home,” says Stjepan Begic, product developer at Ikea.
Acting as a full Sonos speaker, the Symfonisk picture frame works with the latest Sonos app and alongside any other Sonos speakers you may have. You can pair two picture frame speakers into a stereo pair, and they can be converted into rear speakers for the Sonos Arc or Sonos Beam.
There’s no Bluetooth support, but the speakers are AirPlay 2 compatible, and work with all of the streaming services that Sonos provides.
You can buy the Ikea Symfonisk picture frame for £179 and it will be available from 15 July 2021. Full review coming as soon as samples are available.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
