Sonos IKEA SYMFONISK Table Lamp Speaker review

Swedish furniture maker IKEA has been around for decades and has become known for their affordable products. Meanwhile, Sonos has become known for its premium speakers.

It wasn’t until last year that the two companies came together for the SYMFONISK speaker range.

Design & Hardware

There are two products under the SYMFONISK, one is the table lamp speaker and the other is the bookshelf speaker.

Both speakers have identical internals but I was only able to test out their SYMFONISK table lamp.

The SYMFONISK table lamp uses two class-D digital amplifiers, one tweeter and one mid-woofer.

The base of the lamp is where you’ll find a volume up and down buttons and play/pause along with a status light.

The side of the lamp is a fabric texture that is reminiscent of the Apple HomePod along with an on/off switch for the lamp. There’s also an Ethernet port for improved connectivity.

Underneath the mushroom looking lampshade is where an E12 bulb slot is. A bulb is not included but Sonos was kind enough to include one of IKEA’s TRADFRI smart bulbs. The E12 TRADFRI will only become smart when connected to a Gateway hub (sold separately for another $39 CAD).

The sound quality on the SYMFONISK tablet lamp is good and sounds like a mix between the Sonos One and HomePod. The speaker can get fairly loud when you want to crank up the volume.

Just like other Sonos products, the SYMFONISK table lamp includes the company’s TruePlay technology that helps it sound better in almost any room you put it in. The speaker also comes with support for Apple AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect.

Since it’s a Sonos product, the SYMFONISK table lamp can easily connect to your existing Sonos speaker setup. I have a Sonos Beam and I was able to easily play music on both my Beam and the SYMFONISK table lamp at the same time. You’ll just need to create a group in the Sonos app.

If you have two SYMFONISK table lamps then you can use them as a stereo sound pair. The same goes for the bookshelf speaker. Both SYMFONISK speakers come in black and white colour options.

The SYMFONISK table lamp and SYMFONISK bookshelf speakers are available now from IKEA’s website. The table lamp costs $249 CAD and the bookshelf speaker costs $149 CAD.

There is also a wireless remote for the SYMFONISK speakers that allow you to remotely control the volume. The SYMFONISK Sound remote costs $14.99 CAD but you’ll need the TRADFRI gateway kit mentioned earlier to use it.

IKEA does offer a bundle with the SYMFONISK Sound remote and TRADFRI gateway kit for $54.98 CAD.

Software

To set up your SYMFONISK table lamp, you’ll need the Sonos app on your smartphone. Just plug in the speaker, open the app and it’ll take you through the setup process.

You may need to connect the speaker to your router using an Ethernet cable if you’re having issues and for the first setup. Otherwise, everything can be done over Wi-Fi.

The Sonos app is where you’ll be able to control your speaker setup, update the speaker’s firmware and add music services. There are more than 60 streaming audio services including Spotify, iHeartRadio, Audible, Pocket Casts, TuneIn and more.

The app is divided into five sections, My Sonos, Browse, Rooms, Search and More. My Sonos is where all your favourite songs and services are saved for easy access.

Browse lets you look through all the streaming audio services you’re connected to. Rooms give you access to all your Sonos speakers. Search is self-explanatory and More is where all the settings are.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the SYMFONISK table lamp offers a great mix of audio technologies from Sonos and affordable furniture that IKEA offers to produce a great sounding speaker.

Pros

• Unique minimal design
• Integrates well with other Sonos products
• Apple AirPlay 2 & Spotify Connect support
• This speaker can fairly loud and bass-heavy
• Comes with Sonos’ Trueplay
• Fairly easy to setup

Cons

• No built-in voice controls
• The lamp is on the expensive side compared to Sonos’ cheapest speaker (the Sonos One SL at $229 CAD)
• Sonos app could use some work