20
IT ONLY TAKES
IKEA’S OWN ART
COVERS, BUT
AT £17 THEY’RE
A LOT CHEAPER
THAN A BANKSY
£179 / ikea.com
Ooh, that’s jazzy. But this is a
gadget magazine, not Hartbeat.
Nice obscure ’80s reference. Bet
you didn’t know Tony Hart served
in the Gurkhas in the Second World
War. But we digress, because what
you’re looking at is art – only Ikea
has shoved some music behind it
with a little help from Sonos. Yes,
the Symfonisk Picture Frame WiFi
Speaker is a hanging frame with
‘room-filling sound’ that can be
hung in landscape orientation... or
portrait if you live your life like one
long TikTok video.Adding synth-pop group Art of
Noise to the playlist, then?
Another nice ’80s reference – are
you trying to alienate all of our
readers? In fairness, though, the
flat-panel wireless speaker should
sound pretty good with Class-D
amps, a 4in woofer and adjustable
bass, treble and loudness. And
because it’s part of the Sonos
ecosystem you can link it to the
company’s full range of devices.At last, a special place to exhibit
my challenging phallic art!
Not so fast, Neil Buchanan: your
own art attacks will have to wait
because the 570x410x60mm
frame only takes Ikea’s own
interchangeable covers. Still,
at £17 each they’re a lot cheaper
than a Banksy, and if you’re feeling
particularly avant-garde you can
pop it on the floor or stand it on
a shelf using its anti-vibration
rubber feet.Neil Buchanan? You realise he’s
64 now?
Bet you didn’t know he played lead
guitar in a heavy metal band. Other
things to note about this speaker
are that it supports AirPlay 2, can
be stereo-paired or daisychained,
and has a power cable that can be
coiled up and stashed in a clever
storage area at the rear. Oh, and
you’ll find buttons located on the
left-hand side, leaving you to
push other people’s by banging
on about the chiaroscuro in your
intriguing original abstract from
Ikea’s underrated early period.IKEA SYMFONISK PICTURE
FRAME WIFI SPEAKER
ICON