SPEAKERS
ISSUE 381|COMPUTER SHOPPER|NOVEMBER 2019 85
SPEAKERS
THERE’SNOQUESTIONthat speakers have
become alot more complicated: once
intended solely forplaying music, theycan
now answer trivia questions, set alarms and
even help out with your weekly shop.
As aresult, smart speakers haven’t just
come intoprominence figuratively,but
physically,too.Theytend to be best
positioned as centrally in aroom as possible,
both forsound dispersion and foroptimum
microphone performance.
Ikea’s new Symfonisk speakers aren’t
smart per se,but theydoattempt to reverse
this trend by disguising themselves as
furniture.The cheaper £99 model, for
example,isdesigned to slot seamlessly intoa
bookshelf,while the £150 model hides in plain
sight as the base of aworking table lamp.
Both models are available in either white
or black, and the table lamp,inparticular,
is atriumph of form melded with function.
Aquick glance and you wouldn’t know it
was aspeaker at all, let alone amultiroom
wireless speaker.
Even better than the designer looks,
however,isthat both speakers also feature
technology from high-tech audio specialist,
Sonos, and can be added seamlessly to an
existing multiroom Sonos setup.Theycan
also be installed as standalone speakers and,
in addition, are compatible with Apple AirPlay.
FINEAND SCANDI
If you’ve bought intothe Ikea style,you’ll love
the waythese speakers look, either in black
or white. The shelf speaker is built from
minimalist, solid-feeling plastic, with atextile
grille covering the drivers, and all cables
hidden at the back.
The table lamp is made from
similarly sturdy plastic, with
the base covered in what
looks like aknitted teacosy
and topped with a
lampshade of frosted glass.
It’s quiteabig lamp,more
suited to the living room
than abedside table,and a
simple one as well. There’s no
facility to dim the bulb; the
circular switch on the side
merely turns the light on or off.
Both speakers have fairly simple
controls, too: there are play,
pause and pairing buttons on
the front of each device.
IKEA Symfonisk
★★★★★
£99 (bookshelf); £150 (lamp)•From http://www.ikea.comVERDICT
Ikea’sexpertisemaybeinfurniture,butits
Sonos-poweredspeakersareoutstanding
To get music to playthrough these
lovely-looking speakers, you need to
connect them to your home network,
either via Wi-Fi or Ethernet cable.
There’s no Bluetooth or 3.5mm audio
jack input, nor any kind of microphone.
These aren’t smart speakers, so you
can’t control them via Amazon Alexa or
Google Assistant with your voice.ROOM MATE
Youcan stream tunes directly via AirPlay,
but the best waytocontrol aSymfonisk
speaker is to use the brilliant Sonos app.
This gives you access to numerous
streaming services, including TuneIn
Radio,various high-resolution audio
options and also all the big-name
services such as Spotify,Google Music,
Apple Music and YouTube Music.
Importantly,the app not only
supports these services but it also fully
integrates with them, unlike the apps
that accompany most other wireless
speakers. ForSpotify,inparticular,most
other apps tend to kick users directly
out to the Spotify app instead of going
through the bother of integrating it properly.
The benefit of the integrated approach is
mainly that you can search within the app for
music across multiple services; you can build
playlists that span different services, too.
One of the big benefits of Sonos speakers
is Trueplay, atuning feature that optimises
the speaker’s EQ to the room the speaker is
in. This tuning process is simple: just wander
around your room, waving your phone slowly
up and down while the speaker outputs a
special tone,wait forafew seconds
and, heypresto, you’re done.
It’s also an essential part
of setting up: when we first
played music out of the shelf
model, prior to configuring
Trueplay, it sounded
constrained and confined,
with adispleasing lack of
low-end grunt that robbed the
music of warmth and solidity.
After optimisation, however,
it sounded less narrow and
constricted, with considerably
improved instrument separation
and clarity.The bass was more
controlled and less boomy,the
mids sounded more open and
the treble less swamped. It’s
not true audiophile quality,
but for£99 it’s pretty good.The table lamp is an entirely different
kettle of fish, with better control, balance,
warmth and detail out of the box, plus
superior bass and more impressive
instrument separation. After carrying out
Trueplaytuning, it improved further,but not
as much as the shelf speaker.
The lamp is most at home with fairly
simple acoustic material. Vocals cut cleanly
though backing tracks, and atmospherics are
presented with supreme confidence.Itcan
cope with more complex material, too, with
streams of overdriven guitars and deep bass
causing no problems whatsoever.POUND FOR POUND
For£99 and £150 respectively,Ikea’s
‘furniture’speakers represent phenomenal
value.Bluetooth speakers such as the UE
Wonderboom 2will provide enjoyable
listening forless cash, while the QAcoustics
3010i are abetter-sounding set of
conventional bookcase speakers, but it’s
practically impossible to find anything
with Sonos’s smarts or built-in room
optimisation tech forsimilar cash.
Since both Symfonisk models also happen
to be the best-looking Sonos speakers, as
well as the cheapest, the only issues worth
mentioning are minor faults such as the lack
of Bluetooth or aux input. Otherwise,they’re
fantastic speakers, and avery pleasant
surprise from acompany better known for
furnishings and meatballs.➡The £150 Symfonisk speaker is
disguised as astand foratable lamp