DHT-S517 Soundbar with Subwoofer, Bluetooth, Dolby Digital, Dolby Atmos, Sound Bar for TV, Dialogue Enhancer, HDMI ARC, Wall Mountable, Music Streaming, Including HDMI Cable

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.

If you’re wanting something to make the audio on your TV sound better then this will do the trick. Really enhances the sound and sub is good enough to make the earth move. Clear dialog and more than loud enough for a large room. It automatically switches itself on when you turn on the connected FireTV and also does the same with the turntable I have connected to it. Negative points for me are the remote is strange flat rubber buttons that I don’t think will stand the test of time with fingernails (although writing a review after owning it for a couple of weeks won’t prove this). Having said that I’ve paired the Amazon remote to it for volume control so don’t really need to use it. Also, the volume seems to have a lag when you press the buttons and takes a while to get to the desired point. Audio through the 3.5mm aux-in from a turntable isn’t great… it’s ok but my old, cheaper soundbar was better. You’re going to buy this for you TV though, and it’s not meant to be a full hi-fi system, so that probably doesn’t matter to most. It wouldn’t play audio through the optical cable out of the TV when playing a Blu-ray (eg Blu-ray to TV via HDMI then optical cable from TV to soundbar), so had to plug the BR player into the back of the soundbar then another HDMI from the soundbar to the TV. Might be user error as don’t fully understand it yet… I’ve got the BR player and FireTV connected to the “HDMI in” on the soundbar (with a HDMI splitter so I can switch between the two), then “HDMI out” of the soundbar to the TV. Turntable is into 3.5mm aux and Bluetooth works well with my iPhone. Apple TV is connected to TV via HDMI 2 and audio sent back via optical to soundbar and works fine. Probably an easier way of doing it, possible three-way HDMI splitter into soundbar for Apple, Fire and Blu-ray? Anyway, looks great and overall it’s good. Haven’t watched enough Dolby Atmos movies to comment on whether this is worth the extra money compared to soundbars without this option

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 issue Setting 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 arc I 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 that This 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 sound I 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 good I would definitely recommend this system and for the price you get a decent sound Edit :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

I needed a soundbar to replace our old Sony 5.1 system. Obviously this soundbar is not going to do what a unit costing three times the price will do and if you have been reading other reviews you will know that it does not support DTS. Now the good bit. Easy and very quick to set up and everything you need is included. The sound is very good. The clarity for normal television viewing is excellent and you do not need the sub on for this if you do not require it. We now hear things that were just not there with our old system. The cinema effect is excellent and really sounds great, it might not be the most powerful of systems but is packs a punch. Baby Driver and Deep Water Horizon really give the sub a work out. The lack of DTS has not been an issue and films sound very good. As for the Atmos, it is there but please be-aware this does have its limitations, we have a large tall room so I am not expecting too much from it. Eventually it will be moved to the bedroom where it will be more suited and we will buy a replacement that is better for the large room. I looks lovey, sounds great and is not expensive. I think it is a bargain at £300 and below and would buy it again.

Pretty mediocre-sounding speakers. The remote control is nearly useless as their buttons are stiff, you have to press it hardly pointing to the speaker to make it work. The best is to control it via an other device through HDMI. Sometimes it freeze and doesn't turn on, so have to unplug it for 5-10 secs, to fix it. I'd try a different brand next time as there most be a lack of testing and quality control at Denon. Cheap and usable replacement of a TV speaker, but nothing special.

Very reasonably priced soundbar with excellent immersive sound quality. This soundbar and sub combo IMO looks very good and would suit most homes. It looks and feels decent quality. The remote is small but has all the features you need on it. Setup was easy, literally just plug and play with HDMI arc. Has worked seamlessly since we've had it. At this price point i'd argue the sound quality would be hard to beat. It comes with Dolby Atmos which is really a gimmick without full surround speakers but I am very impressed with how it push's the sound around the front of the room. Once the sound goes behind you in some movie scenes it disappears but full frontal sound both width and height is very impressive from a soundbar. The sub gives off a decent amount of bass only really struggling on the lowest of rumbling movie scenes. The soundbar volume has very little distortion at high levels and is enough to annoy most neighbours. All in all a great soundbar at a very reasonable price. Could easily compete with systems much more expensive.

I bought this soundbar after trying out a couple of others in this price range, namely the Q700A and Q600A from samsung. While the competition is good on it's own I felt this product was just a step above in terms of sound quality and ease of use, no complicated menus or features just plug n play using ARC. I have this connected to an older Sony TV from 2016 through ARC to get the Dolby Atmos feature and have been amazed how well it performs with all content (games,movies,music). The sound is very crisp, dialogue is crystal clear and the bass is punchy without being overbearing. The atmos itself while obviously not being on the same page as far more expensive systems performs well and does definately add to the experience. The remote is clearly laid out and is easy to use with no unnecessary clutter. While it maybe lacking some creature comforts like apps on your phone or google assistant etc, I feel denon has put the focus on the most important aspects of this product.... THE SOUND. To wrap this up if you are in the market for a soundbar at this price point and are on the fence about what to choose I highly reccomend this one!