Never afraid to dive into new product categories, Ikea has announced plans to release a record player this fall as part of its new Obergränsad collection. The record player was designed in collaboration with house music supergroup Swedish House Mafia and has a sturdy design that is in line with many of the other consumer electronics that Ikea has produced. In addition, the Swedish retailer has also announced an armchair and desk as part of the collection.
This isn’t technically the first record playback device that Ikea has announced. Way back in 2018, it announced a turntable made in collaboration with Teenage Engineering, which it hoped to release the following year. But according to a Teenage Engineering support page, the player never made it to the final collection.
Ikea engineer Carmen Stoicescu alludes to this earlier attempt in an interview about the new record player on Ikea’s site. “When the question came to my mind, I just said, ‘We tried to make a record player before, so maybe we could use the same supplier?'” she says. The article contains a few hints about the functionality of the player, such as the fact that it has a built-in preamplifier, is powered via USB and features a replaceable cartridge and stylus. In a press release, Ikea also notes that the player will work with its Eneby Bluetooth speaker, but because it doesn’t support Bluetooth, it will only work over a wired connection. Otherwise, the technical details are thin. It is not clear whether the turntable has built-in speakers or is limited to wired output.
We submitted these questions to Ikea, along with questions about how much the unit is expected to cost. It will be available this fall, along with over 20 other products that make up the Obergränsad collection.
