The humble soundbar has become a must-have item in recent years. Liam Power tries out Denon’s latest bar/subwoofer combo and gets immersed in the sound. 

The Denon DHT-S517 is a soundbar system boasting a Dolby Atmos 3.1.2 speaker configuration and an included wireless subwoofer.

Denon is a company with a rich history in hi-fi and amplifier design. Therefore, the main selling point in a crowded soundbar market is the sound quality for movies and music and the combo’s ability to add depth and immersion to sound sources despite its fixed speaker layout and design.

Build and Aesthetics

The DHT-S517 system has a minimal, understated design, blending in well with modern home theatre components to become part of a given setup. The soundbar and subwoofer sport rounded corners with flush speaker fabric, forsaking any sharp angles in their design language. While on, the soft multi-coloured LEDs on the soundbar serve as status-indicator for mode and volume, providing visual feedback to the user of the unit’s operation.

The large, centrally placed buttons for power, input, Bluetooth and volume fit seamlessly into the DHT-S517’s design, alongside vents for the upward-firing drivers.

The wireless subwoofer weighs in at 2.5kg, measures 172 x 370 x 290mm and is minimal in aesthetic. A branding badge sits in the middle of the speaker cover. The subwoofer has no physical user controls save for a pairing button on the back with an LED that shows whether the subwoofer is connected or not.

The DHT-S517 soundbar is long at 1,050mm, a consequence of packing the horizontally aligned LR speakers, upward-firing drivers, and centre channel speakers in an all-in-one enclosure. This would make the soundbar suitable for larger TVs with a minimum of around 43″.

For smaller TVs, Denon provides more compact soundbars. With a 60mm height, it is slim enough to be mounted underneath your TV using a keyhole style wall mount or placed on a TV unit.

Overall, the DHT-S517 is clearly designed to integrate with a wide array of theatre equipment and should fit in well in pretty much any home theatre space.

Features

The DHT-S517 Features Dolby Atmos output, using a mixture of the LCR and height speakers to provide a more immersive experience when listening to supported audio sources. There is quite a wide choice of input options for a soundbar, with HDMI, optical, analogue input, and Bluetooth. The most flexible, by far, is the HDMI input so it is advised to use HDMI if ARC or eARC is available on your TV.

The included remote provides access to input switching, volume control, muting as well as independent volume and bass levels. There are different DSP modes for movie, night and music and a setting for Denon’s dialogue enhancer DSP processing for increasing dialogue intelligibility in movies (one of the main selling points of a soundbar in the first place).

Setup and Installation

Being a soundbar/sub combo, the initial setup is pretty simple. Denon graciously includes everything in the box to get you started, with a nice hefty HDMI cable supplied. My setup included a connection to a Hisense smart TV using the TV’s eARC port and was a fairly simple affair. Plug the soundbar into your television using eARC (if supported) or the included optical digital cable if it is not.

Note that if connected over eARC, you can control the soundbar’s operation using your television’s remote over HDMI CEC, a nice inclusion sparing you from having to keep track of multiple remotes. If connected over optical/Bluetooth or through the 3.5mm analogue input, you can use the supplied remote from Denon to set volume levels, switch between inputs and access the soundbar’s DSP features. Ensure the soundbar is placed so that the upward-firing drivers are unobstructed for the full sound experience, if the soundwaves are bouncing off your television the admittedly subtle depth effect provided by the upward-firing drivers will be limited.

Plug in the soundbar and place it on your TV Unit or mount it on the wall. Plug in the subwoofer and verify it is connected using the light on the back, if it’s green you are good to go, otherwise use the connection button on the back to pair the subwoofer to the soundbar. Mine was already paired so pairing the subwoofer was as simple as plugging it in and checking the light on the back panel. When placing the subwoofer make sure to leave some distance between the wall and the back panel to allow the back reflex port to work efficiently for a more rounded bass experience.

Sound

The DHT-S517’s strong points are in the midrange, an area which is usually set aside for the speech intelligibility. With the smaller speaker cones for the L/R and height speakers, it would be easy to expect a tinny or resonant sound from the soundbar, however the enclosure’s design helps cut down on sympathetic resonances in the enclosure and between the integrated speakers, adding heft and absorbing any vibrations while unifying the sound.

There is a barely noticeable roll off in the high end, either from the unified enclosure design or from deliberate tuning to avoid harshness. However, detail is retained.

In music listening, the DHT-S517 performed surprisingly well. The droning bass synths and piercing high-end fuzz guitar came through clearly on Wire’s 154 (1979). The intro track I Should Have Known Better has a fairly dense mix with synths, guitar and bass fighting for dominance with the vocals. The Vocals came through clearly, and the sub definitely helped with the low end, adding weight to the kick and snare and bass.

Something more bass heavy like ESG’s Dance (1981) worked well, with the sub filling out and providing depth to the bassline. Overall, the music listening experience was pleasant and well balanced, rivalling small bookshelf speakers in a home hifi.

In movies, connected through HDMI, I was keen to try the Dolby Atmos setting. Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma 2018 makes extensive use of Dolby Atmos sound effects in its soundtrack. The sound of water rushing from the high speakers down to the bottom end in the opening scene makes for a great test of the Atmos capabilities.

The left to right and top to bottom spatial audio effects made great use of the speaker’s capabilities. I was able to spatialise what I was seeing on screen and the sound within the room, with surprising accuracy in the surround field. The sensitivity of the soundbar was excellent, with small sounds coming into the foreground with a high degree of detail. The sound of a lemon being squeezed was clearly audible above dialogue.

While the dialogue was very clear and upfront, other elements of the sound design were well presented and spatialised through the system. Overall, an impressive performance throughout the soundtrack.

While experimenting with the dialogue enhancer, I found the mid-range bump to be quite pronounced on the ‘high’ setting; if you need more vocal intelligibility, it might be advised to use the enhancer on low or medium, unless you are in a loud environment with traffic noise, etc, that is preventing you from hearing dialogue.

For most of my testing, I had the soundbar set to the ‘pure’ setting, to better assess the speaker’s sound without any DSP effects applied. Of course, this is a matter of personal preference, and the dialogue enhancer settings definitely do what they say on the box, enhancing and increasing the intelligibility of speech in my test material.

I conducted frequency response testing of DHT-S517 with Room EQ Wizard. My test rig is a Sonarworks XREF20 Calibrated Measurement mic running into a Scarlett 6i6 audio interface. I ran multiple sine-sweeps through the soundbar through the 3.5mm analogue input and analysed an RMS average of their response. My testing of the DHTS517 confirmed a lot of my previous subjective listening experiences.

The soundbar’s frequency response started around 200hz and stayed fairly flat up to a small 3dB bump between 2-5khz in the dialogue comprehension range. From 5-16k there was a gentle roll off of around 2-3dB which helps to prevent a tinny or harsh sound from the system. The subwoofer fleshed out the low end considerably from around 50hz-200hz with a flat response in this range.

Conclusion

When purchasing a soundbar, it is easy to be overwhelmed by choice with so many models with a plethora of features available. A soundbar is a great next step from your included TV speaker for more audio immersion and intelligibility in dialogue. The subwoofer’s surprising bass response will also add more oomph to action scenes, music and movie soundtracks, increasing your enjoyment and listening experience overall.

Going with a trusted brand like Denon is a good choice, and the DHT-S517 does not disappoint when it comes to sound, providing good intelligibility to dialogue and a full-range listening experience with a good amount of dynamic range. With its plug and play setup and understated design language, it would easily integrate into a minimal home theatre setup. There is also the potential for future firmware upgrades to keep up with modern improvements in audio output from TVs.

For fidelity in music and movies, the DHT-S517 combo provides a solid choice for your home theatre experience as well as everyday use.