Ikea is all set to affix the vinyl revival. The flat-pack furnishings maker simply launched a brand new report participant as a part of a collaboration with digital music stars Swedish Home Mafia.
Unveiled at 2022 Milan Design Week, the turntable varieties a part of a brand new assortment referred to as OBEGRÄNSAD that additionally features a desk for music manufacturing plus an armchair, with all three merchandise sharing a modern black aesthetic.
There’s little in the way in which of technical particulars to date out there for the report participant, so it is exhausting to say if it’s going to problem one of the best turntables our there, however from the promo pictures launched to date of the putting minimalist field design, it appears far faraway from the flimsy excuses for decks you are likely to affiliate with a mainstream retailer.
Whereas not talked about in Ikea’s press launch, eagle-eyed readers could have observed Audio-Technica’s brand on the stylus, which reassuringly suggests this deck might be a contender.
And you will not must fill your room with hi-fi separates; the turntable additionally has a preamp in-built, with the decks powered by a easy USB cable.
Whereas Ikea makes the purpose of claiming the decks workforce up seamlessly with its personal Eneby Bluetooth audio system, it doesn’t appear like the decks really characteristic wi-fi connectivity, with the turntable seeming to attach through the speaker’s aux enter.
In keeping with Swedish Home Mafia, the vary’s design “helps creating, taking part in, having fun with and even simply setting the temper.” Commenting on the report participant, Ikea designer Friso Wiersma says: “The strong, chunky design provides the participant a presence within the room – it transmits the physicality of music within the assortment, making it actually declare area with the angle of music woven into it – reasonably than making it mix”.
Whereas this can be the primary Ikea-branded turntable to hit the market because the 1970’s, it’s not the primary time the corporate has dabbled with the thought of releasing a set of Twenty first-century wheels of metal.
One other collab with uber-cool Swedish shopper electronics model Teenage Engineering was set to incorporate a report taking part in gadget in 2019 but it surely sadly by no means noticed the sunshine of day.
The OBEGRÄNSAD desk, in the meantime, appears like bit might be an enormous hit with inventive, techy varieties and avid gamers. Primarily geared toward dwelling studio music producers, with its pull-out shelf permitting for area for a midi keyboard, it additionally options two ear-height monitor speaker stands which may endear it to video editors.
No costs are at the moment out there for the brand new OBEGRÄNSAD vary, however all three merchandise are set to drop in shops this autumn.
Evaluation: Ikea’s new turntable appears set to turn out to be one other Scandinavian pop hit
Whereas there’s no indication at this level whether or not or not the OBEGRÄNSAD decks might be restricted version, report store house owners will little doubt be protecting the whole lot crossed that they attain as many properties as Ikea’s venerable Kallax cabinets.
The vinyl resurgence reveals no indicators of waning, and an reasonably priced, entry-level report participant being supplied by one of many world’s largest retailers would be sure to attract in additional music lovers to the record-buying bug.
We’d like to have seen some wi-fi connectivity onboard, and the power to pair up with Ikea’s Sonos-friendly SYMFONISK audio system, however that’s maybe asking an excessive amount of from a tool that most likely gained’t value an excessive amount of greater than a household meal of meatballs.
