WIRED Builds a Wall From 149 Ikea Speakers, and Like Every Ikea Project It Ended With Screaming and One Piece That Didn't Work

Ikea has spent decades teaching the world that anything can be built in an afternoon with an Allen key and a failing marriage. This weekend, WIRED applied the philosophy to sound.

The magazine stacked 149 of Ikea's $10 Kallsup Bluetooth speakers into a wall at its London office, chained them to a single iPhone 16 Pro, and turned it up until journalism became a medical event.

Ikea had claimed you could link 100 of the 2.75-inch cubes. When WIRED asked to test it, Ikea raised the bet to 150 and shipped them over with the confidence of a company that has never assembled its own furniture. "No one has ever tried this, though," an Ikea spokesperson said. "We haven't."

That is the most Ikea sentence ever spoken. The instructions are included. The experience is not.

True to tradition, the build came with one piece that didn't work. A single Kallsup arrived making "an ominous rattling sound as if its innards weren't entirely secure," and was benched, leaving 149 speakers and one dud that will now live forever in a drawer beside the extra screws.

Chaining was easy: hold Play until a chime announces "multi-speaker" mode. The whole wall linked up in about 30 minutes, less time than it takes to find your car in an Ikea parking lot. Past 100 units, some speakers declined the first invitation, but none refused more than twice, which makes them more cooperative than any family group chat in recorded history.

The math is magnificent. 149 drivers of 1.8 inches add up to roughly one 22-inch driver. 149 amplifiers of 3 watts add up to 447 watts. 149 speakers at $10 add up to $1,490, which buys one excellent speaker and a sofa that doesn't need a hex key.

At 100 speakers, WIRED said the wall was "loud like a fire alarm, not a hi-fi system." Most homeowners already own that sound for free and test it every morning by making toast.

Then they went to maximum and played Also Sprach Zarathustra, the music from 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film about apes discovering tools. Fitting. The apes in London had discovered the volume button.

"We almost wish we hadn't," WIRED wrote. "We couldn't hear each other speak, and we could feel our internal organs vibrating." Ikea has finally sold a product that rearranges your insides, a job previously handled by the meatballs.

The tower did not collapse, which WIRED called disappointing "for the socials." The journalists wanted it to fall. Ikea wanted it to stand. For once in human history, the Ikea furniture won.

Still, 149 fell far short of the world record of 1,500 speakers set by Majority Audio in March 2026. So the team finished the day the way everyone leaves Ikea: deafened, exhausted and 1,351 units short of the dream.

WIRED's verdict: "If you want high-quality audio, spend your money on a better speaker." It took 447 watts and a newsroom of shaken spleens to confirm what your uncle says for free at every barbecue.

Ikea now knows its speakers can chain to 149. It still hasn't tried it. "We haven't" remains official company policy, along with the extra screws.