Ikea, with its affordable, assembly-required chairs and shelving units, is the largest furniture retailer in the world. But that hasn’t meant that the growth is over. In just the past few years, the Swedish goliath has been dipping its hands into tech as well, trading in charging cables, wall adapters and wireless chargers, and a launching a whole home division — named Trådfri which is Swedish for “wire-free” — with smart light bulbs, smart blinds and other smart sensors. But one of its notable, growing sectors, is the furniture giant’s growing suite of speakers.
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Björn Block, the leader of Ikea’s Home Smart division, will tell you that this focus is actually nothing new for Ikea, which sold records in its stores as early as the 1970s. It also launched its Renn range of hi-fi products around that time, consisting of a turntable, amplifier and a pair of bookshelf speakers. While it doesn’t sell hi-fi products or vinyl records anymore (although it does have copious vinyl storage options, as you’d expect), it does sell more speakers than ever.
Ikea upped its audio game last year with the much-anticipated speaker collaboration with Sonos, consisting of two bookshelf speakers and a table lamp speaker, which paired Sonos calling cards — same app, similar acoustic abilities — with affordable Ikea style. And the mixture proved a great success, with 30,000 Symfonisk speakers sold on the first day they went on sale in August 2019.
It was also the first time Ikea had ever sold a non-Ikea product in its stores, though the co-branded speakers are available exclusively through Ikea’s stores. But Ikea isn’t dependent on Sonos for sound. It has its own audio division located in Älmhult, Sweden, that’s dedicated to developing its own line of first-party speakers. Here is a look at what Swedes have to offer so far.
Eneby
CourtesyThe Eneby line of home speakers is fully designed and developed by Ikea. There are two different sized models — 8-inch ($70) and 12-inch ($100) — both of which share a minimalist design, a simple and multi-functional volume knob, and a surprisingly powerful sound. There’s also a portable option ($25), which is smaller yet just $25. If you don’t have Wi-Fi or don’t want to pay over the odds for a speaker, the Eneby line is for you.
