Sonos IKEA Symfonisk bookshelf speaker
Er, storage and sound in a great bit of furniture
£99.99 FROM IKEA, ikea.com FEATURES AirPlay 2, Wi-Fi
The Sonos IKEA Symfonisk bookshelf speaker is the cheapest Sonos speaker currently available. It’s half the price of a Sonos One and two-thirds the price of the Sonos IKEA Symfonisk lamp speaker opposite. The bookshelf speaker can be wall mounted and hold up to 3kg of books, Apple devices, ornaments, or whatever else you decide to put on it. As well as being wall mounted it can also just sit vertically or horizontally, and at the size of a long brick it can be easily tucked away.
It’s typically IKEA in its refined yet distinguished design. Connections at the rear include wired internet and, without the need for any pairing button or such (there’s AirPlay 2, though no Bluetooth), the front is clean except for the play/pause and volume controls.
Bold and focused
While this speaker-cum-shelf is never going to rival the Sonos One for sound quality, you might be surprised to learn that the same character is most definitely there. The audio is bold and focused in its delivery, with vocals especially belting out more animated tunes with comparable energy. The balance is generally good as well, though we had to tweak and fine-tune it to take out some bass.
The speaker can handle quiet very nicely too. It’s not meant as a slight when we say this speaker would be ideal for background music, simply that it can handle hanging back just as much as it enjoys getting involved.
It’s also fully integrated into the existing ecosystem, and will link to any other Sonos kit you have. It is fully controllable within the app, will receive all the same updates as the company’s other products, and you can even pair two together to perform in stereo.
You’re not going to get a better sounding multiroom speaker with Sonos’s sonic signature for less than three figures – not to mention one that you can use as a floating bookshelf. ANDREW MURPHY