New Products

Denon has simplified setup of its latest soundbar by building the “subwoofer” into the bottom of its enclosure, forgoing the need for a separate bass module.

Slated to sell for $249 when it’s released release later this month, the new DHT-S217 soundbar incorporates two down-firing 3-inch woofers (shown below) in a svelte enclosure about 3 feet long, just under 5 inches deep, and only 2.6 inches tall — low enough to be placed along the lower edge of a TV without obstructing infrared control sensors. The bass section is joined by front-firing left and right driver complements, each of which mates a 1-inch tweeter with a 2 x 3.5-inch “racetrack” midrange driver, in a simple 2.1-channel layout.

Power is not specified but the S217 supports Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus sound and provides analog and optical digital inputs along with a 4K/eARC-compliant HDMI connection for easy TV hookups and a subwoofer output for listeners who want more bass.

Additional features include Denon’s three-mode “dialogue enhancer,” designed to improve dialogue intelligibility without affecting overall volume, and four sound modes — Movie, Night, Music, and Pure — the latter of which bypasses all surround processing. A remote control is provided, in addition to the control buttons on the top of the soundbar.

The DHT-S217 supports streaming via Bluetooth and has keyholes on its rear panel for wall mounting. For more information, visit usa.denon.com.