If you’re looking for something functional to add to your home decor, IKEA is always a great choice. The Swedish company is well known for its interesting designs that are function-first, but also lean into some quirky pieces — and a unique, yet functional design is the best way to describe the IKEA Symfonisk Table Lamp Speaker. It’s an excellent combination of a Sonos-powered speaker with a table lamp, making for an eye-catching centerpiece for your table or a fantastic party starter when equipped with an RGB smart bulb.
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I bought the Symfonisk table lamp two years ago, as a gift for my wife, and it’s been in daily use at our home ever since. It’s unbeatable at creating a great atmosphere, so you can combine moody light with a bit of music, creating great vibes with just one device. With two different colors, various types of shades and surprisingly good sound (considering it’s also, well, a lamp), the Symfonisk speaker lamp is not only a nice-looking source of light — it’s also probably the best way to get into the Sonos ecosystem.
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Brighten your day with this musical lamp
The IKEA Symfonisk Table Lamp Speaker is a unique device that is perfect for its niche use. It’s a great-sounding, Sonos-powered speaker disguised as a fully featured (and, arguably, really nice-looking) table lamp. It has its software quirks, but it does what it promises exceedingly well.
- The sound profile is very fun and enjoyable, with quality to match
- Understated, minimalist design with swappable shades
- It’s both a speaker and a lamp
- Weak Android software support
- Lacks Chromecast or Bluetooth connectivity
- No built-in smart functions
You can buy the lamp as you would any other IKEA staple
The second generation Symfonisk Table Lamp Speaker was released in November 2021, as a successor to the mushroom-looking first generation. You can get it directly from IKEA, and the manufacturer offers several different options to choose from.
The Symfonisk speaker lamp is available either as a standalone base, or as a set with different kinds of shades.
You can choose between two colors of the base — there is a black and a white option. Shades, on the other hand, are much more varied. There are three different styles: glass, fabric and bamboo. The first two styles are also available in different colors, so you can mix and match to create your perfect set.
Buildable pieces and prices for different styles and budgets
The base alone costs $190.99, whether you choose black or white. The shades have two different price points though. If you opt for a glass or bamboo shade, you’ll have to pay $59, while a fabric shade costs $10 less — $49.
You can now also get the Symfonisk Lamp in a floor lamp variety. It’s only available as a set and costs $299.99.
A smart design that’s great in theory, but even better in practice
If you’re in the market for a lamp with a built-in speaker, it’s likely that home design or decor is a heavier consideration than it would be if you were looking simply for a great sounding portable speaker, for example.
The 2-in-1 speaker and lighting combo is a great way to add a bit of moody, indirect lighting to your home while also having some music to further match the vibe and complete your in-home ambiance.
As an aesthetic living room piece, the IEKA Symfonisk Table Lamp Speaker is a great addition to my home. It has its usual place on a window sill, so that it can provide a bit of a vibe when watching movies on a sofa or when eating a nice dinner. Plus, as it’s in the center of the living room, it’s also a great spot for its musical capabilities, easily filling the room with my favorite tunes.
IKEA
The lamp itself features an understated style that blends nicely with my interior style. Plus, with mixing and matching shades, it makes for easy customization. Speaking of shades, unfortunately, the lamp is only compatible with first-party offerings, so you won’t be able to throw on your own lampshade.
I opted for the white frosted glass version and think it adds such an elevated look, rather than a “functionality-first” approach. The shade consists of two parts — the inner matte white tube and the outer white frosted globe. It diffuses the light very well, making for pleasantly moody and soft lighting.
Moving on to the base — it also features a more luxury design. It’s covered in a polyester fabric with a visible weave pattern, which looks and feels really high quality. Additionally, it protects from dust and fingerprints, so you don’t have to worry about dusting the lamp every other day for it to look good.
At the front of the base, there is a single, small button that allows you to turn on the light. At the back there are a few more buttons — these are used to control music playback and volume. They have distinct textures, so you can easily use them without looking.
However, to be honest, I’m not sure if I’ve ever used them — you can control playback through the Sonos app as well, so you don’t have to use physical buttons at all.
In order to function as a lamp, the device also, of course, needs a bulb. You can use any E27 LED bulb that you have on hand, but IKEA does not provide one with the device.
Equipping the lamp with a standard bulb would be a waste of potential. If you set it up with an RGB smart bulb, you’ll have yourself quite a party machine. The lamp will not only serve as your go-to music player, but also provide much-needed lighting in your room, and various colors will work wonders when combined with fitting music. Take it from me, it’s great both for a nice dinner date and a chill party.
A bassy base
When we got the Symfonisk speaker lamp, I was a bit skeptical about its musical prowess. It’s a lamp first, I thought, so I really shouldn’t expect it to sound that great. My thinking was simple — if it’s at least adequate, I’ll be happy. Imagine my shock when we first set up the lamp and it immediately not only sounded great, but filled the whole room with booming bass and high-quality resolution.
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… the Symfonisk is not meant to be your typical shelf speaker as it’s not designed for one-dimensional music, but rather a 360-degreee surround sound.
Sonos and IKEA’s partnership gave birth to a really compelling product with a lot of thought put into it. What’s even more impressive given the home-decor first design is the Symfonisk is not meant to be your typical shelf speaker as it’s not designed for one-dimensional music, but rather a 360-degreee surround sound.
Instead, the Symfonisk lamp goes for a 360-degree sound, thanks to a clever waveform magic that IKEA and Sonos came up with. It really feels uncanny, but the lamp sounds great from any corner of the room, and with the ability to tune it with TruePlay, you can make it sound even better by fitting the sound profile to its surroundings.
However, that’s not the only surprisingly good thing about the Symfonisk Table Lamp Speaker. It also offers a very pleasant sound profile that will suit its casual uses very well. The sound curve is a bit bass-heavy, but considering what it is — a casual listening device that is meant to fill the room with sound, it’s exactly as it should be.
I have to admit, it punches well above its size with how it sounds, with full bass and detailed mids. Keep in mind that the commitment to this bassy profile does result in trebles being a bit muddy, especially when listening at a higher volume. You should also not expect loads of very low sub-bass, it is a smaller-sized speaker.
Overall, though, it’s a great sound profile if you want to put some music on in the background, or when meeting with some friends. It’s neither too mellow, nor overpowering. The 360-degree sound that the lamp provides is an excellent pairing here as well.
Once again, you can see the thought that Sonos and IKEA put into the function of such a speaker. It’s not a critical listening device meant to be extremely neutral and detailed. Instead, it’s a fun, casual speaker with roomy, spatial sound that provides a fun but still quality sound and easily fills a room.
Sonos software takes some misses
Unfortunately, nothing is perfect, and this applies to this magnificent lamp as well. While I still believe that the hardware of the Symfonisk speaker lamp is top-notch, it’s the software that makes the experience a bit less than ideal.
First, though, I’ll address the software positives. The Symfonisk Table Lamp Speaker is a part of the Sonos ecosystem, so it benefits not only from the aforementioned fantastic sound tuning but also access to the Sonos app.
That means that the setup is extremely easy, as with any other Wi-Fi speaker from the company. You also get a massive amount of interesting features through the app, with its ability to create all sorts of audio setups, including multi-room setups, and even the ability to create a stereo pair for the Symfonisk lamp speaker.
You also get TruePlay, which is a feature that lets you configure the sound of your speaker based on its surroundings. It takes just a few minutes, but it makes the sound perfect for your room. However, there comes the first big caveat — TruePlay is only available when using an Apple device, so Android users are out of luck. The same is true for wireless streaming — the Symfonisk lamp supports AirPlay, but Chromecast is nowhere to be found. You also cannot connect to the lamp via Bluetooth, so if you’re using Android, the Sonos app is the only way to play your music through the device.
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Overall, the Sonos app seems to not only lack some features on Android, but it’s also not that well optimized. I’ve encountered multiple bugs when using the app, such as losing all my saved streaming services, or difficulties with playing or pausing music. My wife, who uses an iPhone, has never had these problems.
A missed light-bulb moment
One more minor thing about the app — and this concerns both the iOS and Android versions. The Symfonisk Table Lamp Speaker doesn’t, unfortunately, come with a light switch built into the app, which would not only just be a cool feature to have but could also be extremely convenient. It’s a bit of a missed opportunity, but nothing a smart bulb cannot fix.
If IKEA and Sonos went for it and integrated a virtual assistant into the lamp, it could really be a centerpiece of your whole smart home setup.
One last note that would make the whole device even better — why, oh why, is it not a smart speaker? If IKEA and Sonos went for it and integrated a virtual assistant into the lamp, it could really be a centerpiece of your whole smart home setup. The ability to play your music from the lamp by talking to the lamp would not only be so much fun — it would make for a great smart living room speaker.
Verdict: Is IKEA Symfonisk Table Lamp Speaker a must-have for music and lighting?
It has to be said that yes, you can find better speakers, including Sonos speakers. You can also find lamps that fit your aesthetic better. However, the IKEA Symfonisk Table Speaker Lamp gives you both of these in one, and does both of these things really well, without fumbling the basics.
My own IKEA Symfonisk Table Lamp Speaker is probably, after my phone and my PC, the tech gadget I use the most. It’s on daily, sometimes as just a lamp, sometimes as just a speaker, sometimes as both. It’s an idea that’s both really simple and extremely effective — a staple of IKEA design.
What’s even better is that while using a form factor that’s not very speaker-like, the Symfonisk lamp doesn’t compromise on sound quality. Its sound profile is really pleasant and fits its form and function very well, with a fun, room-filling sound.
Of course, there are some problems. The trebles are a bit understated, and the Sonos app is generally not as feature-rich as it could have been, with quite a few bugs and annoyances appearing after every update. There are also some missed opportunities: if the Symfonisk lamp had smart speaker functionality and better Android support, it would win my personal tech product of the year … every year.
That being said, it’s still a fantastic product that has its quirks, but it takes these quirks and makes them its strength. I cannot recommend the IKEA Symfonisk Table Lamp Speaker enough. It might still be a niche product, but it’s a niche that it comfortably mastered.
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