Ikeaâs upcoming record player. | Image: Ikea
Ikea, which has never been scared to dive into new product categories, has announced plans to release a record player as part of its new Obergränsad collection this fall. The record player was designed in collaboration with house music supergroup Swedish House Mafia, and has a chunky design in line with a lot of the other consumer electronics Ikea has produced. Alongside it, the Swedish retailer has also announced an armchair and desk as part of the collection.
This technically isnât the first record playing device that Ikea has announced. Way back in 2018 it announced a turntable made in collaboration with Teenage Engineering that it hoped to release the following year. But according to a Teenage Engineering support page, the player never made it into the final collection.
Image: Ikea
Its design and controls are designed to be simple.
Ikea engineer Carmen Stoicescu alludes to this previous attempt in an interview about the new record player on Ikeaâs site. âWhen the question came to me, I just said, âWe actually tried to do a record player before, so we could use the same supplier maybe?ââ she says. The writeup contains a couple of hints about the playerâs functionality, like the fact that it has a built-in preamp, is powered over USB and features a replaceable cartridge and needle. In a press release Ikea also notes that the player will work with its Eneby Bluetooth speaker. Otherwise, technical details are slim. Itâs not clear whether the record player has built-in speakers, supports bluetooth audio, or whether itâs limited to wired output.
Weâve put these questions to Ikea along with questions about how much the device is expected to cost. Itâll be available this fall along with over 20 other products that make up the Obergränsad collection.