to my surprise i managed to get the full collection today! i’ve been waiting for this release since it was first teased, and followed along… most recently to the delay last summer for the sonos speaker roll out. @FLDPLN
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30x20 speaker with subwoofer: to me, this is simply incredible! the best design ever, so well made, so fun, and sounds really really good in my opinion. some people were complaining that there were no batteries… the manual shows the option to put rechargeable battery packs from ikea in them so they are battery powered, contrary to early reports. the build quality on this piece is incredible. i can’t believe i actually have it sitting in my living room as i type this. i thought for sure it would not be part of the collection. i saw the prototype once again at super booth as part of the TE booth design. i thought for sure its just decoration. tobias said its been sitting around the office for a long long time. so i had no hope it would ever be produced and sold publicly. the cloth handle feels great, strong, and feels good to lift it with. my favorite part is the connectivity on the back for audio and power cables. the aesthetic of the curly cords is beyond words. all the pieces in this collection come with so many nice accessories, cables, hardware to build different configurations, everything is complete. there are rubberized spacers for in-between stacking the mid and tweeter on top of the woofer, nice rubberized feet to install where you wish, and just overall everything seems to have been really thought through and all the details taken care of. there is a flat dial on the back of the subwoofer where you can dial in how much bass you want to hear, and this was such a nice touch to me, i used it already depending on what i was streaming to the speakers. also i should say connectivity on the back includes line in, line through, power in, power through, as well as a bluetooth option. $149
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10x20 speaker: this is actually the top unit of the subwoofer version. its included with the subwoofer but without the modular faceplates which come in red or yellow depending on which version you buy. otherwise it also has the same black faceplates included which are on the subwoofer version. again i thought this sounded really good to my ears in my apartment. not as good as the subwoofer combo of course. but on its own still better than the ikea eneby speakers that everyone seems to love. the build quality is again excellent and the design is great. personally i don’t like the overall design as much as when its coupled with the subwoofer, but i get it that if you want something which packs smaller, or you are on a smaller budget, then this is certainly a good speaker to get. since its the exact same as what’s included with the subwoofer, you can also put rechargeable batteries in this one making it truly portable. obviously this also has the same connections on the back as the 30x20 and does bluetooth too. $69
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6x10 speaker: i grabbed 4 of these for the price and for having everywhere i never remember to bring a speaker but need one sometimes… in the car, my backpack, the kitchen, at work. i absolutely love this design too!!! obviously i love this collection, but i am shocked at just how good the whole thing is in person. its so fun, beyond any quality that i thought it might be, and just superior design, a masterclass for anyone who loves aesthetics. the 6x10 and 10x20 have a nod to the op-z volume yellow tab with their own volume tabs that look exactly the same. they are slightly different in functionality in that they are endless encoders, so they spin forever in either direction and keep turning once the volume is all the way up or all the way down. its not used to power on or off the units, unlike the op-z. the volume on this one is just fine for how big it is. for me its a no brainer, much better than my phone speaker. the clip on it is super useful. and this speaker comes with a pre-installed rechargeable battery and a usb cord so you’re good to go. there is bluetooth connectivity as well as a line in! $19
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5x10 speaker base: getting into the lights in the collection, this is maybe my least favorite thing once i saw it in person. its still a great idea, and i love the concept of it. its maybe the cheapest build quality out of everything, though it is still once again better than i thought it might be… there are preinstalled rubberized joints for where the 10x20 speaker sits on it. this light runs on 3 AAA batteries and has a little mechanical slide switch on the back to turn it on. its maybe not as bright as i would like it to be, and just feels more plasticky than the rest of the pieces. it might be good as part of a modular installation of joining lights and speakers together, i’m going to do some arrangements and see if it can be worked in. $9
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multi-use or LED light: everyone has been asking if the lights respond to sound in some way… this one does!!! early reports seem to have people thinking that both types of lights in the collection have nothing to do with music, they can’t be controlled by the z or otherwise sequenced. so while that is true, that the z has no special connection to the lights, this LED grid is super sensitive to sound and animates the pattern on its face with each sound it hears. there are a few different types of patterns you can scroll through by clicking a dedicated button on the back of the light. each pattern advances one step in its animation when a sound is detected. i found the sensitivity of the sound detection to be very high. it was pretty impressive, except that with loud music you just kind of get a general mush of the animation always being active, because the sensitivity is so good on the light. for my purposes of what i’m going to use them for its a good thing, but it might have been nice to have a dial for a sensitivity setting on the back of the light, almost like the flat dial on the back of the subwoofer. i actually liked every single animation option, and the build of this light is incredible!! the overall design of both the speakers and the lights also lends itself to lego-like configurability. there are holes all over everything which can be used to join them together in any way you like, upside down, right side up, backwards, and they all fit perfectly together just like lego. these lights need to be hard wired and do not have a battery option. $39
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spotlight: these lights have 4 settings as far as i can tell. the first is a slow pulsing which is not reactive to sound. next is some sort of asymmetrical pulsing, which i have not figured out the pattern of yet. then the light can be fully on, and finally turned off. each of these modes is activated by continually clicking the power button on the back of the light. the look of the light is absolutely perfect! the color, brightness, and everything else about the design of the effect, throw distance, etc. these again are absolutely 100% perfect for exactly what they describe them for… fun lighting at a party, but for me up to a level of quality that i would never ever expect out of any home party that i’ve been to, or from an IKEA product. the lights ship with pre-installed bulbs and also need to be plugged in to work with no battery option. $29
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spotlight accessory kit: its the most fun you’ve ever had with a light! the kit comes with one tube module, one grill module, one back end module, and 2 handles, in both a red and yellow version. the way these modules click onto the spotlight, and the diffusing effects they produce, i’m speechless. you are sick of hearing it but once again i can’t believe how well these are made and how well they work. i would expect them to kind of be fiddly or loose or whatever when putting them on the front of the lights but they fit exactly perfectly and yet are easy to remove. the tolerances on all this hardware is incredible. there are so many possibilities with the accessories of how to configure everything, its not endless but it makes so many things possible which i never imagined. i love that the handles make it possible to position the lights stand alone, without the tripod. i really really like the red and yellow hues they have chosen to go along with the color of the white light they made. $17
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tripod: ok i know this might sound ridiculous, but i have actually researched tripods for 3 months this past year. it seems you have 2 choices, either you get one which won’t fall over, or you get one which packs small. i finally did find a couple of versions which i can tour with. but then i saw the frekvens tripod… !!! what?? what a great great great design!!! unbelievable, folds small, super super sturdy. really big wide base once its opened. extends to a really good height. and yet packs up very small relative to its unfolded dimensions. the connectors of how the lights attach, its just heaven. they are sturdy, made to be taken on and off many times. a super good system to attach the hardware to the pole, nothing i have seen before. very intuitive. you don’t need any tools, you can adequately tighten and loosen everything with your hands. its so easy to move things around and try different designs. then there are connectors which screw to the lights themselves and then interface with the tripod connectors both through a physical coupling but then with very strong magnets to extra security. its so fast to install the lights and then take them off again. this is next level. i know its a tripod, but this is my second favorite piece of the collection, right after the 30x20 speaker. the tripod has connectors for up to 7 lights, not 6 as previously mentioned some other places. 4 tripods are going to be the basis for the set design for my new solo show. i’m so happy these exist, the best thing i could have hoped for. $59
of the houseware part of the collection, i love the side table and tote bags the best. the side table has modular ceramics which fit into its top like a puzzle. actually all the furniture in the collection is really good. again, better quality than i was expecting from the pictures. the tote bags have an extension on the inside which can fold out and make them bigger with a draw string to close them. the cajón was maybe a bit cheap on the manufacturing. but it worked just fine. the stainless steel eating set looks great in person! i was way more into all the houseware stuff when i saw it in person than from the promotional .pdf of the collection.
