After years of flat-packed harmony, the unlikely but clever collaboration between Sonos and IKEA is officially over. The SYMFONISK lineup—those sneaky bookshelf speakers, table lamps that played music, and even the odd wall art with hidden woofers—is being quietly phased out from IKEA stores around the world. Once current inventory is gone, that’s it. No new models are on the roadmap. The good news? If you already own one, it’ll still get software updates. But if you wanted to add more Swedish sound furniture to your home, better act fast—once it’s gone, it’s gone.
Sonos and IKEA kicked off their unlikely design cult back in 2019, launching the first SYMFONISK speakers—furniture in disguise, or speakers pretending to be furniture, depending on your mood. The idea was simple: hide your speakers in plain sight so they could quietly summon the gods of multi-room audio without clashing with your minimalist Scandinavian altar.
The $99 Bookshelf Speaker: Not Just a Shelf, But a Sonos You Can Cry Under Like Dani in Midsommar
The first Symfonisk speakers were the $99 Bookshelf Speaker—which, yes, could literally double as an actual shelf—and the $179 Table Lamp Speaker, which looked like something Dani from Midsommar would sob under after torching her ex. Both had the same guts as the old Sonos Play:1, making them the cheapest ticket into the Sonos ecosystem—if you were cool with your speaker pretending to be furniture.
Over the years, Sonos and IKEA kept expanding their weirdly charming SYMFONISK lineup—like a Swedish hockey team that just wouldn’t quit. They dropped second-gen versions of the original bookshelf and table lamp speakers, and in 2021 they really leaned into the disguise game with the Picture Frame WiFi Speaker, which looked like modern art but sounded like a Sonos.
By 2022, the Floor Lamp Speaker arrived—yes, another speaker hiding inside lighting, because apparently shelves and tables weren’t sneaky enough.
Some of these were hits, especially the Bookshelf Speaker and the Picture Frame. You could pair two of them as rear surrounds in a Sonos home theater setup, making them more useful than a Henrik Zetterberg backhand. Honestly, if the late-Borje Salming were still around to decorate his place in Stockholm, he probably would’ve had two of these playing ABBA in the corners. Long live the King.
Ingen Panik! Tord Bunderland Har Inte Övergivit Er
For those of you who’ve already embraced the minimalist audio lifestyle with Symfonisk speakers, don’t panic—Sonos has confirmed to the Verge they’ll keep supporting your speakers “for many years to come.” IKEA will continue to sell them until supplies run out, so if you’ve been on the fence, now’s the time to grab a few before they’re gone faster than a Swedish hockey team on a breakaway.
And let’s be real: these were the least painful IKEA products to assemble, which is saying something if you’ve ever tried to put together anything from the store across from Newark International Airport. You know, the one with the café that’s almost as famous for its coffee as it is for giving you a front-row seat to planes taking off and landing (as long as the traffic controllers are awake). Grab a speaker, enjoy the view, and maybe just make sure you’re not sitting under a flight path before you start your next home theater project.
And let’s not forget The IKEA Obegränsad turntable – another quirky collaboration that barely made a dent in the audiophile world, proving that even Swedish flatpacks can spin a record without shaking up Rega or Pro-Ject too much.
The Bottom Line
The SYMFONISK speakers are still a solid deal compared to other Sonos options, but they’re a bit pricier than when they first launched. The Bookshelf Speaker (Gen 2) now goes for $120—$20 more than the original. But let’s give credit where it’s due: Sonos and IKEA brought better sound to a crowd who probably thought “audio quality” meant making sure their Subaru started and their Kallax was level. So, hej då to the collaboration—but at least it made people care about sound in between assembling their furniture.
For more information: ikea.com
Related Reading:
