I wanted a decent speaker for my bedroom that wouldn't look like a piece of tech sitting on my nightstand. The IKEA SYMFONISK Table Lamp Speaker -- a collaboration between IKEA and Sonos -- promised exactly that: a real lamp with a real Sonos speaker built in. After six months of nightly use, I can say it delivers on that promise surprisingly well, with sound quality that punches well above its price point and a design that genuinely disappears into a room.
The SYMFONISK line represents one of the smartest partnerships in consumer electronics. IKEA handles what it does best -- affordable, design-forward furniture -- while Sonos contributes its streaming platform and audio engineering. The result is a product that costs roughly $70-80 less than the cheapest standalone Sonos speaker while adding lamp functionality. That's not a gimmick; it's genuine value, especially for anyone who's been eyeing the Sonos ecosystem but couldn't justify the entry price.
Design & Build
The Kulglass version I tested features a spherical smoked glass shade that creates warm, diffused light -- it looks like a piece of Scandinavian design furniture rather than a speaker, which is entirely the point. Visitors have commented on the lamp without realizing it's also filling the room with music. That kind of invisible technology integration is exactly what smart home products should aspire to.
The base houses the speaker components and is heavier than you'd expect, which is actually a good thing -- it anchors the lamp securely and helps with sound resonance. The overall footprint is compact enough for a nightstand or bookshelf, though the cord management is typical IKEA: functional but not elegant. You'll want to route the single power cable behind furniture.
Build quality sits in that familiar IKEA zone -- it doesn't feel luxurious when you pick it up, but it's well-assembled and nothing rattles or feels flimsy. The glass shade is nicer than the fabric shade version and gives the lamp a more modern, upscale look. IKEA offers multiple shade styles and the base unit is compatible with different SYMFONISK shade options, so you can change the look over time without replacing the speaker. The lamp uses a standard E26 bulb socket, meaning you can drop in any smart bulb -- I'm using a Philips Hue White Ambiance bulb for adjustable color temperature, which pairs beautifully with the smoked glass.
One design note: the touch controls on the top of the base (volume up, volume down, play/pause) work well but are invisible -- there are no labels or markings. Guests never discover them without being shown. That's a minor trade-off for the clean aesthetic, but it means the lamp relies heavily on app or voice control for anyone who doesn't know the touch layout.
Features
Under the lamp shade, this is a full Sonos speaker with all the ecosystem benefits that entails. It runs on the Sonos S2 platform, which means access to every streaming service Sonos supports: Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, YouTube Music, Deezer, and dozens more. AirPlay 2 support lets you stream directly from any Apple device without even opening the Sonos app, which my wife uses constantly for podcasts from her iPhone.
The speaker groups seamlessly with any other Sonos product. I've paired it with a Sonos Era 100 in the living room for whole-apartment audio, and the synchronization is flawless. You can also create a stereo pair with two SYMFONISK speakers, which dramatically improves the soundstage for a bedroom setup. Some users even incorporate them as rear surround channels in a Sonos home theater system -- at $180 per unit, that's a remarkably affordable way to add surround sound.
What you won't find: Bluetooth. This is a WiFi-only speaker, consistent with the Sonos philosophy. That means guests can't casually Bluetooth their phone to play a song -- they need to use AirPlay or Spotify Connect. This is the single biggest complaint from non-technical household members, and it's a legitimate limitation. There's also no built-in microphone or voice assistant, so you'll need a separate Echo or Google device if you want voice control, or route commands through HomeKit/Siri on your phone.
The lamp dimmer is sold separately (the SYMFONISK Sound Remote), and it's a surprisingly nice accessory -- a magnetic dial that sticks to metal surfaces and controls both volume and playback. It's not required, but it adds convenient physical control without reaching for your phone.
Performance
Sound quality is where the SYMFONISK genuinely surprises. For a $180 speaker hidden inside a lamp, the audio is warm, balanced, and room-filling in a way that budget speakers simply aren't. The midrange is clear and detailed -- vocals in podcasts and audiobooks come through crisp and natural, which matters for my primary bedroom use case. Highs are present without harshness, and dialogue in music is well-separated from instrumentation.
Bass is the obvious limitation. The small driver can't move enough air to produce deep low end, so bass-heavy music loses its punch. Electronic music and hip-hop sound thin compared to a dedicated speaker like the Era 100. For acoustic music, jazz, podcasts, and ambient listening at moderate volumes, though, the balance is genuinely pleasing. Sonos's Trueplay room correction (available via the iPhone app) makes a noticeable improvement by tuning the output to your room's acoustics -- I measured a roughly 15-20% improvement in perceived clarity after running it.
The 360-degree sound distribution works well for a lamp that sits centrally on a nightstand or shelf. Sound fills the room evenly rather than projecting directionally, which means you don't need to orient the speaker toward your listening position. At moderate volume levels appropriate for a bedroom -- where I'm using it 90% of the time -- it sounds fantastic. Push it to maximum volume and it starts to strain, but that's not what this speaker is designed for.
WiFi connectivity has been rock-solid over six months. Not a single dropout or disconnection, which is consistent with my experience across Sonos products. The lamp responds to commands within a second or two, whether from the app, AirPlay, or the touch controls. Wake-from-sleep takes about two to three seconds, which is the only noticeable delay in daily use.
Ease of Use
Setup is standard Sonos: download the Sonos S2 app, plug in the lamp, and follow the on-screen prompts to connect it to your WiFi network. The whole process took about eight minutes, and the app detected the speaker instantly. If you already have a Sonos system, the new speaker appears automatically and you just confirm its room assignment. If this is your first Sonos product, account creation adds a couple of minutes but is painless.
The Sonos app has had a rocky history -- the S1 to S2 transition frustrated a lot of long-time users, and a major app redesign in 2024 was widely criticized. The current version, as of early 2026, has stabilized considerably. Music browsing, speaker grouping, and EQ adjustment all work smoothly. The alarm feature -- which I use daily as my bedroom wake-up -- is reliable and lets you wake to any streaming service or tone. It's one of those small quality-of-life features that makes the bedroom placement genuinely useful.
Day-to-day, my wife controls this speaker almost exclusively through Siri and AirPlay from her phone, without ever opening the Sonos app. She started using it the first day with zero instruction, which is the real usability test. The touch controls on the base took a bit of muscle memory -- tapping the right spot for volume versus play/pause -- but after a week it became second nature. For households where not everyone is tech-comfortable, the combination of voice control and physical touch controls covers all bases well.
Value
At $179.99, the SYMFONISK Table Lamp Speaker is the most affordable entry point into the Sonos ecosystem, and it's not even close. The Sonos Era 100 starts at $249 and doesn't illuminate your nightstand. The older Sonos One, when it was still available, was $219. Even the IKEA SYMFONISK Bookshelf Speaker at $99 doesn't include lamp functionality. You're getting a legitimate Sonos speaker plus a well-designed lamp for less than the cheapest standalone Sonos option.
The dual-function design is genuine value in small spaces. My bedroom nightstand now has one device where there used to be two (a lamp and a Bluetooth speaker), which freed up space and eliminated one power cable. For apartments, dorm rooms, or anyone consolidating their bedroom setup, the space savings alone justify the premium over a basic Bluetooth speaker.
There are no subscription fees, no cloud accounts required for basic functionality, and no artificial feature gating. Sonos has made some controversial business decisions (the forced S1 obsolescence, the bricking of older speakers for trade-in credit), but the speakers themselves work fully without ongoing costs. Your $180 buys complete, permanent functionality -- a refreshing contrast to subscription-dependent smart home products.
The main caveat is ecosystem lock-in. Once you start building a Sonos multi-room system, switching costs escalate. But if you're intentionally choosing Sonos -- or this is your first speaker and you want to leave the door open -- the SYMFONISK is the smartest entry point available.
Pros
- Full Sonos integration at IKEA prices
- Lamp + speaker saves space
- Good sound for the size
- AirPlay 2 support
- Blend into decor as furniture
Cons
- No Bluetooth (WiFi only)
- No built-in voice assistant
- Lamp shade styles limited
- Bass is modest
- Sonos ecosystem required
Final Grade
The IKEA SYMFONISK Table Lamp Speaker is one of those rare smart home products that solves a real problem elegantly: it provides quality multi-room audio in a form factor that doesn't look or feel like technology. For bedrooms, home offices, or living spaces where visible speakers would clash with the decor, it's a clever and genuinely well-executed solution. Sound quality exceeds expectations for the price, Sonos ecosystem integration is seamless, and the lamp function is more than an afterthought -- it's a well-designed light with interchangeable shades.
The limitations are real but predictable: no Bluetooth means WiFi-only streaming, bass is modest for its size, and you're committing to the Sonos ecosystem. For listeners who primarily want background music, podcasts, and audiobooks at bedroom-appropriate volumes, those trade-offs are easy to accept. At $180 with no subscription fees, this is the best value in the Sonos lineup and one of the smartest smart home purchases you can make for a bedroom or small space.