Ikea has been venturing deeper and deeper into the realm of home audio with its Sonos-powered Symfonisk speakers and its collection of Eneby Bluetooth speakers. But the Swedish furniture maker has now decided that its next frontier is to help those who create music, and its solution is something of a head-scratcher: A chair, a desk, and a turntable, all under the new Obegränsad moniker, that have been designed in tandem with house music supergroup Swedish House Mafia.
Ikea says the collection has the versatility to offer solutions for the home setup whether you are a music producer, DJ or musician – as well as provide solutions for simply relaxing and listening to music. “The design supports creating, playing, enjoying and even just setting the mood,” says Swedish House Mafia.
But to my eyes, these new products look, well, just like a lot of Ikea’s other furniture offerings. The desk is minimal to the extreme, and beyond a slide-out tray that Ikea says can be used for a midi keyboard, the only other real nod to it being a desk for creators are the included speaker shelves that can be mounted anywhere along the desk’s width.
I’m guessing that the Obegränsad chair isn’t meant to be used with the desk, given its reclined seat angle, but then, how is it any better for music listening than any other lounge chair the company sells? A official description doesn’t really help to answer that question:
The Obegränsad armchair represents the perfect balance of form and function, which is central to this collaboration. The minimalistic design creates a pure elegance, the adjustable straps strengthen functionality, allowing to fine tune the comfort level. The armchair showcases the part of the collection which supports creating a relaxing environment to enjoy your music experience in the home.
“Armchairs are a place to unwind, to reflect, to set oneself into the creative flow,” says James Futcher, creative leader at Ikea. “Obegränsad armchair manifests the importance of comfort.”
Easily the most intriguing item in the collection is the Obegränsad record player. Unlike the furniture items, Ikea has said painfully little about the turntable other than it “celebrates the timeless joy of the listening experience with vinyl records.” Oh, and it works with the Eneby speaker, so presumably that means it has Bluetooth of some description, but we don’t know for sure.
What we can tell by looking at the released photos is that the record player has an Audio-Technica cartridge, speed adjustments for 33/45 RPM records, and a set of RCA stereo outputs. No word on whether you’ll need a phono preamp to connect it to an external set of speakers, or whether it has a built-in speaker or speakers of its own.
Ikea hasn’t set prices on any of the Obegränsad products, but it has said the collection will be made available this fall.
