Ikea Symfonisk Picture Frame Speaker Review

Updated May 15, 2023: This review has been edited to reflect the addition of new artwork designs to the official range of photo frames and a new unofficial custom option from Symfonx.

The Picture Frame is the third installment in the Symfonisk series, the collaboration between kit furniture giant Ikea and sound specialists Sonos.

Much like the two Symfonisk speakers that came before it – one built into a lamp, the other designed to fit snugly into a bookshelf – the Picture Frame is designed to blend into the home without having the ostensibly technical.

The name is a little misleading because by any reasonable measure it’s not a picture frame – but it’s a speaker designed to look like a piece of art hanging on the wall.

Despite that, the sound quality is impressive, and the compatibility with the rest of the Sonos ecosystem makes it a good buy as a standalone speaker or as an extension of an existing Sonos setup.

Design and build

• Wall
• Interchangeable designs
• Unable to display your own images

The Picture Frame Speaker is a slim, rectangular block that measures 41 x 57cm – not quite a wall, but clearly designed to take pride of place in a room. Ikea also includes setup instructions for provocatively leaning the frame against something instead of mounting it, but I really don’t know why you would do that unless you rent and aren’t allowed to drill holes in the walls.

I have already said that it is not, strictly speaking, a photo frame. This is because you can’t mount your own artwork, photos or prints on it, and instead are limited to Ikea’s pre-existing range of designs.

The two default options are a minimalist dot and line design, available in white or black – with the frame body color matching your choice. The fabric prints are replaceable, and at launch Ikea showed off a range of fourteen different designs, available for $22 / £30 / $30 each, although not all went on sale worldwide.

Since its launch, Ikea has expanded the range with a trio of designs based on famous works of art: Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Gustav Klimt’s Tree of Life. Each of the three is accompanied by a unique soundtrack by composer Franz Edvard Cedrins, inspired by the original painting.

The good news is that replacing or swapping the frame is easy – it’s as simple as pulling the fabric mesh out of the body, as it’s only held on by lightweight plastic pegs. The bad news is that because the fabric image is attached to a plastic frame, there’s no easy way to adapt it to include your own artwork.

Thankfully, third-party companies have stepped in to do what Ikea and Sonos have yet to do. Companies like Unisk and Symfonx have expanded the range of options available, allowing you to order from an expanded range of designs or even have your own images printed on fabric covers for the frame.

Dominic Preston / Foundry

I tried Symfonx, having one of my own photos printed on a custom fabric panel. Uploading an image is fairly easy, with clear instructions on file size and quality. I found the final version very slightly toned down from the photo I submitted, so keep that in mind when choosing a design.

The Symfonx panel is lighter than the official panels and attaches with magnets rather than plastic pins. It only takes a few minutes of work to swap out the design, although I found that a few magnets didn’t seem to hold as tightly as the others, so there are two places where the print doesn’t quite line up my framework – that’s a fairly minor complaint in the grand scheme of things.

The sound quality also seems totally unchanged, and there’s nothing stopping you from going back to what you had before if you want to resell the frame in a few years.

At $79/£65, it’s more expensive than any of the official options, but to me it’s a premium worth paying for custom design, rather than bland hotel art from Ikea.

The only other thing to note is that – at 60mm – the frame is quite thick, so it will protrude quite a bit from the wall. It makes it a little more obvious that it’s more than it looks, but the illusion still holds – I’ve had plenty of surprised visitors as the music starts playing from the artwork art.

Setup and Installation

• Requires a drill and screws
• Digital setup is simple
• Power two speakers from one power cord

There are two elements to the setup here: physical and digital.

The physical side is easy enough, but will require some DIY know-how – and equipment. The frame comes with a metal bracket for wall mounting, but due to its weight – 3.8kg – this will require more than a nail driven into the wall.

Fixing the bracket properly will require a drill and screws (not supplied), so you’ll need to be comfortable trying out – and have the right to, as not all tenants are allowed to drill holes in the walls. The silicone rubber feet will at least prevent your wall from scratching while dampening the vibration of the speaker.

You might think that all the drilling is the reason Ikea offers the option of just bracing the frame against a wall, but even for that the company recommends screw mounting, presumably to prevent the frame from tipping over with vibrations.

The frame is designed to be positioned in either landscape or portrait orientations, and features full cable routing to keep cables tidy – although you’ll still need to manage a dangling power cable unless you’re drilling an extra hole to route it through your wall, or chase the wall to a lower outlet and re-plaster. For added neatness, an inexpensive extra power cable will allow you to daisy-chain two Symfonisk photo frames, both powered by the same power outlet.

The good news is that if you can overcome the slight hurdles of putting the thing on the wall, the digital half of the setup is painless. You’ll want to use the Sonos S2 app, and once signed up, it only takes a few minutes to connect the speaker to your Wi-Fi network (an Ethernet port is also included, if you prefer, but will get you an extra cable worry), with pairing handled by a quick press of your phone against the spot on the speaker where the power light is visible.

Sound quality

• Surprisingly loud sound
• Bass a little thin

It won’t be one of the best speakers you’ve ever heard, but that doesn’t have to be. Probably the best speakers you’ve ever heard are big, bulky and obviously technical – three things they’re not.

I will be let’s just say the sound quality Sonos has delivered here is remarkable considering the frame’s slim form factor. It can’t keep up with the Sonos Playbase I have to power my TV sound and will probably lag the Sonos One a bit, but not by much.

On the default setting, the bass is quite thin, with Run the Jewels’ “Out of Sight” propelling bassline falling short of the pulsing punch it demands. The basic EQ in the Sonos app – just the treble and bass sliders – compensates for this somewhat, but has its limitations.

The loudspeaker’s strengths clearly lie in the upper registers, where the company’s crisp, clear sound profile shines through. If you stick to mostly pop and rock, you’ll get the most out of this speaker, with punchy vocals flowing through an open, balanced soundscape.

Smart Features

• Compatible with the Sonos S2 app
• Wi-Fi or Ethernet only – no Bluetooth or aux
• Not a smart speaker

Like most Sonos speakers, the Symfonisk uses Wi-Fi (or Ethernet) to connect, rather than Bluetooth – and there’s no option for an aux cable either. You can play most streaming services on the speaker through the Sonos app, including Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and even oddities like Plex, the Calm meditation app, and various radio services. on line. Spotify Connect and AirPlay 2 support makes streaming even easier.

iPhone and iPad owners can also use ‘Truplay’ to tune the speaker to the room it’s in for optimized sound, although unfortunately there’s no equivalent feature for those on the go. between us on the Android side.

It’s worth noting that there are no microphones here, so it’s not technically a smart speaker – although it can be connected to and controlled by other smart speakers and virtual assistants.

Using the Sonos app, you can link it to other Symfonisk and Sonos speakers for multi-room sound, seamlessly syncing sound throughout your home. You can also connect it to another Symfonisk photo frame to create a stereo pair in the same room.

The app can also be used for the basic audio options mentioned above and to control the speaker. If you prefer, the physical buttons behind the bezel edge control play/pause and volume – although these won’t be much help if you’re mounting the speaker high on a wall.

Price and availability

The Picture Frame Speaker is available exclusively at Ikea, in-store or online. At £179/$179/$199 it’s the most expensive Symfonisk to date – you can buy a pair of bookshelf speakers for the same price, while the lamp is closer to the frame but still works a little cheaper.

Arguably the closest comparison is that it’s fair against the £199/$199 Sonos One, the main speaker in the company’s range. This will offer better audio quality than the Photo Frame, but without the low profile form factor.

Verdict

Another mixed success from the collaboration between Ikea and Sonos is the Symfonisk Picture Frame. It can’t quite match the sound quality or simplicity of the lamp – still the best product in the range – but what the two companies have achieved here is undoubtedly impressive.

The biggest snag is the restriction to Ikea’s limited range of premade picture templates, which perversely means it can’t replace a regular picture frame in your home unless you like some of the prints on offer. here or you’re willing to pay extra for a third-party solution to bring out the speaker’s full potential.