Sonos and Ikea loved to make speakers that look like other things. They launched the Symfonisk table lamp speaker, bookshelf speakers and a picture frame, among other products. But now the Sonos-Ikea partnership ends, according to reports.
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.
Update: Sonos and Ikea just ended their lengthy partnership on the popular Symfonisk speakers, which included a table lamp and a picture frame, according to various reports.
“Over the past eight years, we’ve had the pleasure of working closely with Ikea and are proud of what we’ve achieved,” Sonos told The Verge. “Although our work together has largely wound down and we won’t be releasing new products as partners, we’ll continue to support every existing Symfonisk product so customers can keep enjoying great sound in their homes for many years to come.”
Sonos-Ikea partnership ends for Symfonisk table lamp speaker and more
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 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.
With the partnershp ended, you might want to hurry and snap up any remaining Symfonisk stock, since Ikea said it will continue to support existing products.
Price: Varies by product
Where to buy: Ikea
We first published this post January 14, 2022, and republished it to mark the end of the Symfonisk partnership between Sonos and Ikea, on May 9, 2025.
David Snow, an expert on Apple hardware and software, writes on a variety of technological and cultural topics for Cult of Mac. They include Apple news, technology buying guides, and features about computer setups and Apple TV shows and movies.
With 30 years of experience covering technology and other subjects, he has written and edited for numerous print and online publications, including CMP Media, TechTV.com, CNET, Wired News, Red Herring magazine, Law.com, The National Law Journal and Law Technology News magazine. Among other roles, he served as executive editor of the Law.com network of websites and editorial director, technology, for ALM Media.
Snow graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University with majors in magazine journalism and psychology. While there, he worked as a reporter for The Daily Orange newspaper and associate editor of Equal Time magazine.
Founder of the blog At the Waterline, he can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) via @atthewaterline and on Mastodon via @dsnow.
