Sonos and Ikea are at it again with the speakers that look like other things. They recently launched the second generation of the Symfonisk table lamp speaker.
The Symfonisk line of speakers, which also includes a bookshelf speaker that can hold books and a picture frame speaker that looks like wall art, is designed to blend in with your home decor.
Symfonisk table lamp speaker
Sonos designed the second-gen table lamp, bookshelf and picture frame sound systems to bring high-quality wireless audio to your home’s decor, doing away with the need to take up space with standalone speakers.
For the new table lamp speaker, Sonos said it enhanced the sound experience, updated some features and added customizable designs. And it fixed some of the shortcomings of the original table lamp speaker, which came out in 2019.
The first table lamp speaker design featured a circular knob that looked like it should be a dimmer switch or a volume dial. But it was just a power button. The new one has an obvious power button. And the original speaker only took the E12 bulb size. The new one uses the more common and brighter E26.
You can use a smart bulb with the Symfonisk table lamp speaker to turn on the light with a voice command. And with this generation, you can choose among colors and materials.
Separate base and shade choices
With the new table lamp, the base and the lamp shade are sold separately and offer a choice of colors and materials. You can choose between a black or white version of the lamp base, and you can pick from four different lamp shades in either textile or glass, also in black or white.
As Ikea’s Alistair Lowther put it:
Since launching the first Symfonisk table lamp speaker, we learned a lot about how and where they are being used. For example, a lot of people use the lamp speaker on a nightstand, which led us to create a new, slightly smaller lamp base. We’re now also offering customers more design choices to better suit their own individual tastes and styles. By integrating a speaker into a table lamp, we can save space, decrease clutter, and allow people to personalise the atmosphere within their home through both light and sound.
Changes in technology, too
But the second-generation Symfonisk table lamp speaker’s updates are more than just cosmetic. Sonos said the new lamp speaker features a completely new acoustic architecture that uses a custom waveguide to provide quality sound from any angle.
Like the original version of the speaker, it streams audio over Wi-Fi rather than Bluetooth, which can mean more stable playback. You can play the table lamp speaker by itself or connect it with other Sonos products, including other Symfonisk products.
All Symfonisk speakers are part of the Sonos system, easily connecting listeners to more than 100 streaming services like Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music and Deezer, plus radio stations from TuneIn, podcasts and your iTunes music library.
Price: $140.99 for speaker base; $189.99 with shade
Where to buy: Ikea
