Jordan O'BrienDenon’s HEOS HomeCinema is now available exclusively through UK distributor AWE; giving the company’s smart home dealers first access to the wireless soundbar and subwoofer combination.
Soundbars have grown in prominence in recent years – with Arcam, JBL, Sonos and other brands all launching their very own – but this is the first one from Denon.
Installers can expect a wealth of features from the first soundbar in the HEOS line-up; including support for Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS encoding. It also has a range of connectivity options such as an HDMI input, HDMI output and HDMI ARC.
Like other Denon HEOS products users can combine the HomeCinema with other speakers to create a multi-room audio experience. This feature is currently limited to just music playback however; so there’s no way to create a 5.1 surround system for movies just by plugging a TV into the HomeCinema.
Users will still get a 2.1 speaker system however, complete with bi-amplified mid-woofers and tweeters with advanced DSP processing. There’s even a wireless subwoofer for extra bass.
In total Denon has equipped the HEOS with 5 channels of Class D digital amplification in both the soundbar and the subwoofer. It has also brought over is dynamic bass boost technology promising advanced frequency and dynamic range tailoring to deliver taut deep bass while preventing distortion.
Denon wants users to experience movies through HomeCinema and it has given it the capability to do so. Users should find no problem with the HomeCinema’s ability to decode both movie and music surround soundtracks into original channels – there’s even movie and music modes to ensure the system fine-tunes the sound to the user’s exact needs at any given moment.
“The HEOS by Denon HomeCinema is a great addition to the range offered by HEOS,” comments Stuart Tickle, managing director AWE.
“The quality of sound creates a perfect home cinema experience, totally transforming a living room space. The speaker sits comfortably with the HEOS 1, HEOS 3, HEOS 5 and HEOS 7 speaker family to offer an affordable, compact and portable solution.”
Along with the HDMI connections, users can also get their content onto the speakers wirelessly using the HEOS App. Using the App users can beam songs from music streaming services such as Deezer, Spotify or Tidal to any HEOS speaker they own. There’s also a USB port for playback from an external storage device.