DenonDHT-S517 Soundbar with Subwoofer, Bluetooth, Dolby Atmos & Digital, Dialogue Enhancer, HDMI ARC, Wall Mountable, Music Streaming, Includes HDMI Cable - Black

I was torn between this Denon and the very similar Polk Signa S4, in the end I decided the subwoofer of the DHT-S517 was better looking and fitted into my media wall better. Owned by the same parent company, they are pretty much identical expect the Denon has an HDMI input and a ‘Pure’ mode which is designed to eliminate unwanted processing and sound effects.Speaking of sound, this is where the Denon shines for me - I’ve had smart soundbars before and previous to this I tried a Sonos Beam 2. Whilst the Sonos was ok for movies, I found it lacking playing music and was not a comfortable listen. Although missing smart features, this combination is cheaper and includes a subwoofer. I’m pleased to report the sound quality really is excellent for movies and music. Don’t expect miracles from the upfiring drivers playing Atmos content, but they are a nice addition and add some height to the sound.The build quality is very good, it feels well made and sturdy without being unnecessarily heavy and bulky and the charcoal grill front will match any decor nicely. It’s a shame they have not opted to equip the bar with a display of some kind and instead rely on a small row of coloured lights to let the user know what’s happening. What’s even more of a shame is there’s no way to dim or turn this off completely, a time out after 30 seconds would be ideal to save getting distracted during a movie. The light is also off centre in the bar which drives my OCD crazy, but is liveable I guess. It sits nicely under my 55” LG as you can see, any smaller TV and it will probably overhang.The remote control also leaves a lot to be desired, whilst it is logically laid out and has the essential buttons in the right places, it’s neither nice to hold or operate. It feels cheap and the buttons are flat, it’s also infa red so requires precise aim and sometimes repeat presses! Luckily equipped with HDMI Earc I can use the Tv remote to control volume, but any adjustments to the sound need to be carried out by the Denon remote. Although not really expected at this price point, a Bluetooth app would have been appreciated to control the bar better.If sound quality and build quality are your main focus and you can forgive wi-fi connectivity and control, I don’t think you’ll go far wrong with this soundbar. Everything you need is included like HDMI and optical cables, quick start guide, wall mount template and spacers. Set up literally takes 2 minutes and the bar and subwoofer pair immediately and I’m pleased to report I’ve suffered no delay/connection troubles. I’ve not tested the Bluetooth but it is version 5.0 so should sound as good as the wired sources. The 3.5mm mini jack is a nice touch too, I guess you could hook this up to a turntable or perhaps an Alexa device to make up for the lack of WiFi.Thank you for reading my review, despite a couple of short comings regarding the remote and display, I throughly recommend the Denon based on the sound quality and ease of use alone it is worth it. If you feel the need for rear surrounds in your setup you’ll have to look elsewhere as this unit is not expendable beyond what you get here.

This soundbar was easy to set up with basic set-up instructions in the accompanying booklet. But you will need to go online to download the full manual. Very simple to connect up. There are two options - an HDML cable that connects to an HDML port on the back of your tv. This port has to be ARC compatible. Most modern tv's will be. You can read about this in the manual. Also of course you will need an available port. Our old tv doesn't support ARC and has only two ports - one taken up with the set top box cable and the other taken up with the DVD player cable. But there is another option. The soundbar comes both with the HDML cable and an optical cable, If your tv is not ARC compatible and/or you don't have a free HDML port, you can connect the soundbar to the optical port on the back of your tv, as I did. The only slight downside is that the optical cable does not support the Dolby function on the soundbar, but supports all the other functions. For me the lack of Dolby didn't make any noticeable difference. Remember to mute the sound on your tv otherwise you will get a strange sound coming from both the tv speakers and the soundbar. When you've muted the tv you may have to press the volume button on the remote control or the soundbar itself, otherwise the soundbar may stay silent. The sound itself is very good for the price. The sub woofer works well with very decent bass sound and connects remotely, you just have to plug it into a socket. Various settings you can change to increase dialogue clarity, bass, and so on. Well worth the money. And a vast improvement on the useless speakers on most tv's.

This soundbar and subwoofer is absolutely brilliant and I am wishing that I’d bought it sooner the sound from it is deep and so clear you can adjust the bass on the subwoofer separately to the volume with the remote I have read a few reviews that criticise the remote but for me I don’t feel like it’s an issueSetting it up is so simple you connect the HDMI lead which is supplied to tv hdmi(arc) on the tv and into the soundbar plug in the lead to soundbar and subwoofer turn them on and you are ready to use it it also comes with an optical lead for tv’s which doesn’t have the arcI am using it with a 65” Samsung tv and it sits perfectly in between the legs of tv you do have the option to fit it onto the wall and it comes with a template to do thatThis soundbar is replacing a denon 316 because that one keeps disconnecting from the subwoofer constantly and it’s so noticeable which is annoying and seems to be a fault with that model because a number of reviews have the same problem I can honestly say that this one doesn’t have the same problem so we can now watch tv without the annoying difference in the soundI only use a soundbar for watching tv so I can’t comment on for playing music etc but based on the bass it has I would say it’s going to be goodI would definitely recommend this system and for the price you get a decent soundEdit :I have now been using this for around 6 weeks and I’m still extremely happy with it but I did notice that on certain programs it’s like the soundbar disconnects from the subwoofer and as I stated this was replacing a lower model for doing that so I decided to do a bit of investigating was it something that I was doing after a lot of reading I found that if you have another Bluetooth speaker close by that can interfere with it I had an echo studio standing on top so I moved it and that helped but I still could hear this disconnect so found a diagram on the best way to have it which is subwoofer standing beside the soundbar with no obstacles in between I had the modem in between them so swapped it around and since then it’s perfect so decided to update my review to give others some guidance on how to get the best from this soundbar I moved the other one upstairs and that doesn’t disconnect either now so probably was the same problem