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Ikea SYMFONISK Picture Frame Speaker Review

mash

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Question from someone that never used sonos and doesn't have any apple products: can i still use this to play the music in my NAS (not sonos) if i download the sonos app to my phone?
(Currently using bubble upnp and raspbery pi based streamers)

Yes. Sonos will let you define a NAS storage location for your library content. I use a Synology NAS for my music storage and used it to stream content directly through Sonos.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/78?language=en_US
 

tmtomh

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I have to disagree.

Garbage??
Measurements alone can not predict something is listenable or sounds good.
Having heard these, I can assure you, they sound fairly good. Not just for what they are, but they simply sound GOOD.

And yes, better than MANY lower to mid priced normal "Audiophile" bookshelf speakers.
They are not perfection, but I mean good sound is good sound.

Again, I'm trying to be generous to @restorer-john here, in the hope that he'll pull back on his harsh dismissal of these speakers. And I also questioned him about the frequency response "jaggies" in Amir's measurements, since the Q's for those ups and downs seem rather narrow, meaning the actual experienced sound probably seems smoother than the graphs suggest.

I don't disagree that these speakers seem to punch way above their weight and are a great choice for many situations.
 
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nick-v

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These are very interesting. I have a pair of Monitor Audio Sound Frame SF2 "art speakers" installed in the dining/kitchen area of our home that sound pretty good (after Roon Convolution filters generated in REW). The in-room measurements were actually pretty ugly before correction. They're a sealed, 3-way with pivoting Inverted Dual Concentric 4-inch mid-range/1-inch tweeter module and a 6.5-inch C-CAM bass driver.

They're being powered by a Roon Ready NAD CI720 streaming amp, and they had to be retrofitted with speaker wires run in the wall and down into the main rack in the basement. Including the amp, they cost roughly 7x more than a pair of these Sonos speakers (not including the retrofit labour). I can definitely tell you which one is the better value.

SoundFrame2.jpg


Here with no grilles:
MA-SF2.jpg
 

Tangband

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Nice to see a review of speakers from IKEA. I was for sure suprised when I hooked up my Eneby (12 inch) speaker. Not as thin as the Sonos/IKEA wall speaker but comes with more power and line in. It is our main kitchen mono speaker and sounds really fine. Some even use several of them stacked as main speakers in their main systems.

The Enebys are nice for the price. A jbl 305 mkII is much better though, soundwise. Much uglier to.
 

Ralferator

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FrantzM

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Hi

This is not about SONOS but this product was designed by them, seems to be able to integrate within their ecosystem... Likely made by SONOS then.

Question to the audiophiles: Haven't you been under this nagging impression that many SONOS systems sound subjectively good...? Often better than you expected, perhaps better than some audiophiles systems? :facepalm:

This forum has shredded to pieces my audiophiles creds. I no longer have any after this post ... So be it! :D

Peace.
 

Ralferator

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Does this speaker signal a change in reviewing direction @amirm ?

The tests results speak for themselves- it's an absolute unmitigated disaster of a HiFi speaker, but you like it subjectively enough to give it a strong reccommendation because it's a Sonos wall mounted 'lifestyle' speaker? I don't get it.

The estimated in-room response looks pretty flat to me. Just a boosted bass, but that could actually help because these speakers will probably rather be used for back-ground music at low volumes, where a little bass boost actually helps. Also the directivity is great. I think you don't understand how to interpret the measurements.
 

tmtomh

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The estimated in-room response looks pretty flat to me. Just a boosted bass, but that could actually help because these speakers will probably rather be used for back-ground music at low volumes, where a little bass boost actually helps. Also the directivity is great. I think you don't understand how to interpret the measurements.

He understands how - he's just stubborn.
 

beagleman

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The estimated in-room response looks pretty flat to me. Just a boosted bass, but that could actually help because these speakers will probably rather be used for back-ground music at low volumes, where a little bass boost actually helps. Also the directivity is great. I think you don't understand how to interpret the measurements.

I would not go that far, to be polite, but perhaps he is putting far more significance on things that are not audible, and focusing on JUST measurements.
But in that case, it does not help to make such huge disparaging comments of equipment or speakers one is judging based solely on measurements.
 
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Chuck S

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Xulonn, that’s exactly why, when Amir says he likes something that measures poorly, we might be concerned. Although I doubt he’ll make a practice of it.
 

MZKM

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Why to rate them for free-standing if they are made to be mounted to the wall? Will there be a rating for wall-mounted too?
As stated in Amir’s review, the Klippel currently can’t measure a peaked that is simultaneously wireless & on-wall (but they are working on it; and since Amir owns it, he can remeasure when the update comes out). The speaker doesn’t have to be wall mounted as seen in their own photos.
 

redshift

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It's not in the shower, just on the wall. The enclosure is plastic and the drivers most likely polyprop, so it'll last more than enough years to give a reasonable lifetime. Unless... the power cord falls out and drops into the bathtub. zzzzzt.

But seriously, if I start taking my HiFi into the bathroom, you can all kick me out of ASR for good. Perma ban.

Sheez.. What kind of savage are you?

Obviously you bring the cans with you to the throne. :cool:

That FR looked pretty jagged. I’m sure they’d DSP’d the crap of that “cabinet” and drivers using various ‘system identification’ shenanigans. Give it a couple of years of abuse and vibration. Then measure it again.

The step and impulse responses would have been interesting to observe.

Or just let it play loud as F for a week or so in a ~40°C climate chamber. I’m sure some of those params have drifted sufficiently to present itself as somewhat “different”.

If you can’t make a loudspeaker measure and sound reasonably well with simple analogue XO’s. Don’t even look at a DSP.
 

Ralph_Cramden

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Sheez.. What kind of savage are you?

Obviously you bring the cans with you to the throne. :cool:

That FR looked pretty jagged. I’m sure they’d DSP’d the crap of that “cabinet” and drivers using various ‘system identification’ shenanigans. Give it a couple of years of abuse and vibration. Then measure it again.

The step and impulse responses would have been interesting to observe.

Or just let it play loud as F for a week or so in a ~40°C climate chamber. I’m sure some of those params have drifted sufficiently to present itself as somewhat “different”.

If you can’t make a loudspeaker measure and sound reasonably well with simple analogue XO’s. Don’t even look at a DSP.
You can re-run TruePlay any time to compensate for changes...
 

Toslink

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Yeah! As objectivists, we're not surprised, right?

Meanwhile, car audio is surprisingly tolerable these days even in modest cars. Auto makers have realized that, with a very minimal additional investment, they can greatly increase the desirability of their cars by putting decent audio systems in there, properly EQ'd to the car's interior.

In a very real sense that's going to trump "legitimate" hi-fi equipment that hasn't been properly tweaked and dialed in for a given room.

Personally that's why I get excited by things like this Ikea speaker or even the Apple Homepods. There will always be niche audiophile gear for people like us who are willing to do room correction and subwoofer crawls and make our own speaker cables. But ultimately the goal is quality audio reproduction and there's something to be said for Symfonisk/Homepod type products that use clever engineering to give objectively decent sound in any room.

Agreed. The speaker is one of the most clever audio products that deftly strikes a balance between affordability, functionality, aesthetics, performance and targeted application. I strongly suspect there will be an entire ecosystem of accessories that arise around this speaker system, from replacement grills to in-wall power kits that hide the line-voltage power cables in a code-compliant way--the same way that's been done for the Play:X/Sonos:X line of speakers. It'll be fun to seen accessories arise that take the speaker's integration into the home's decor even further that what's outwardly obvious.
 

redshift

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You can re-run TruePlay any time to compensate for changes...

Assuming it is possible to take the inverse when the stuff is seriously out of spec.

It reminds of the “bass boosted” genelecs due to temperature differences between Genelecs lab and Amir’s lab.

I mean WTF. I’m not so sure about gear DSP’d to the tilt. For reasonable corrections, fair enough. Otherwise: o_O

However, I’ve got nothing against plain old XO’s (and effects) implemented in DSP’s. But to run some serious algos to compensate for cheap materials, flimsy cabinets and some serious poles and zeros in the room.

How about no?

IMO.
 

L5730

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Seems like a long way from some utterly horrid sounding flat panel speakers in an apartment we stayed in in Allgaü, Germany some years back.
Our little JBL desktop PC speakers easily out performed those!

So, there really is a possibility to ditch the two large towers sitting in the room, and instead have some pictures with sound emanating from them on the wall... yowza!
 
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