Possibly many of you will remember the first collaboration between IKEA and Sonos under the name SYMFONISK. Specifically, they presented two products that promised to combine the functionality of a piece of furniture with the sound of Sonos: a somewhat strange shelf for its usefulness and a lamp that did manage to offer that real double utility.
Now, the company has decided to extend this SYMFONISK product catalog with the launch of a box that incorporates a Sonos speaker on its back that is equivalent to a Sonos ONE in audio quality, to give us an idea.
As with the other devices, the idea is to hide a Wi-Fi speaker in a decorative object , within a philosophy of “invisible technology”. In addition, its price is not entirely high: 199 euros.
A frame attached to a speaker
As a painting, it is 55 centimeters high, 40 centimeters wide and just over 5 centimeters thick (justified by the presence of the speaker). In terms of weight, it reaches up to 3.5 kilos, but it is not at all a hassle to transport it or even hang it on the wall .
The painting is marketed in two different designs: black and white. However, its surface can be exchanged for other designs made by Jennifer Idrizi, for a price of around 35 euros. IKEA, yes, still does not offer the possibility of personalizing it with its own sheets.
Whether we want to hang it on the wall or if our intention is to leave it resting on any piece of furniture or even on the floor, the box comes with two accessories: on the one hand, a kind of legs that are inserted on the side, and, on the other, a piece that is screwed into the wall and acts as a hook on which the painting is hung.
As for the elements that make us detect that we are also facing a speaker, we will only see three physical buttons (Play / pause and raise and lower the volume), an indicator LED and the output of the speaker's power cord. This SYMFONISK box, by the way, also has an Ethernet cable outlet, although it also has Wi-Fi. What it doesn't offer is a Bluetooth connection.
A Sonos speaker, but no voice assistant
Once you've seen the features as a chart, it's time to see what Sonos has done with this product. As with the lamp, at first glance there is no indication that makes us think that we are dealing with a loudspeaker. This is fully integrated behind the sheet.
If we turn it over and remove the decorative sheet, we can see the sound system of the SYMFONISK panel, composed of two speakers and a subwoofer, with two digital amplifiers and that delivers a sound quality identical to the Sonos ONE .
In our case, after placing it in the living room of a normal-size house with two bedrooms, the sound is loud enough to be heard perfectly throughout the house.
To configure it, just two steps through the Sonos app
With the box already in place, it's time to sync it up and start listening to your favorite music or podcasts. The first step is to download the Sonos application to link our SYMFONISK box / speaker to our equipment through the Wi-Fi network . The way to link it is very simple and fast: bringing the phone closer to the LED of the box and having the NFC active. The two devices will be linked almost instantly and all that remains is to give you access to our home wireless network.
When it is linked, it will ask us in which room of the house we want to place the painting. Using TruePlay technology, the loudspeaker itself adapts the acoustics based on where it is located to deliver the best sound quality. The way to do this is by measuring the distance against nearby walls and objects to adapt the sound.
All the advantages of Sonos
The new device in the SYMFONISK range supports all the functions of the Sonos smartphone app, including access to Sonos Radio and Apple AirPlay 2 . If we have more Sonos speakers at home, we can synchronize this box with other devices of the same brand, such as a Sonos Beam, always through the application. In this way, we can have the same audio track playing in different parts of the house or create a stereo sound –although not surround-.
A negative point, although perhaps not for everyone, is that, as it does not have a microphone, it does not have a voice assistant , as most of the speakers on the market do. current.
Is this SYMFONISK box developed by IKEA and Sonos worth it?
Unsurprisingly, a product marketed under the IKEA umbrella could not be overpriced, not even justifying it with the presence of Sonos. In this case, the price is 199 euros, 20 euros more than the lamp and 100 euros more than the shelf.
If we take into account that Amazon sells similar devices from its Echo range for a price between 100 and 200 euros, adding the box function and coming with the Sonos signature behind it, makes us seriously rethink which one to buy. For people who already have other more powerful Sonos devices, it is a good complement (not a substitute) that also adds a touch of color to the house.
