Denon HEOS Speakers with Wireless Streaming Preview

Denon has debuted a new line of wireless speakers that looks like they will fit in well with the company’s product philosophy. The Denon HEOS speakers are a premium home product that is designed to serve as a wireless multi-room sound system. The Denon HEOS connects to any Wi-Fi network and is controlled by a custom app which is available on both iOS and Android. These speakers are fairly compact, but they’re engineered to provide high-end quality, while delivering most of the popular consumer music services—and doing it in a whole-house configuration.

The Denon HEOS speakers line debuted with three initial wireless multi-zone music players. The prices range from $299 to $599. With the included iOS or Android app, users can control sound around the entire home. An optional access point range extender (sold separately) will also be available to help improve or expand an existing home wireless network.

“HEOS by Denon represents the next evolution in products from Denon, a company that for over 100 years is still leading in sound quality, new technologies and innovative products that not only appeal, but anticipate what consumers are looking for. The great-looking HEOS Multi-Room Wireless Speaker plays music contained on your smartphone. If you have more than one speaker, they can work as a multi-room system for your entire home. It’s the ideal audio set-up transferring Denon’s music experience to today’s busy consumer, allowing them to enjoy their favorite cloud music services to the fullest.”

Brendon Stead, Denon vice president of product development

Features of the Denon HEOS Speakers

Denon claims to have worked on the HEOS design, or elements of it, for eight years. The new speakers include audiophile-level synchronization, so latencies are nearly nonexistent. Denon also included state-of-the-art audio DSP optimization, partnering with Waves Audio to capitalize on their knowledge of DSP (digital signal processing) technologies. For Multi-Room-Sound, Denon is using embedded MaxxAudio by Waves, a sound enhancement suite that is customized to enhance sound quality.

The Denon HEOS is designed to be very easy to use, and the Denon Controller app (for iOS and Android) lets you conveniently set up and operate the player(s) through your existing wireless network and with the devices you already have in your home which may serve up music. It only takes minutes to start playing back music. Since the Denon HEOS has built-in dual band 802.11n Wi-Fi, you get long range connectivity with enough bandwidth to stream high-quality music anywhere in your home. Since it uses 802.11n, the Denon HEOS speakers avoid interference from other single-band Wi-Fi devices, Bluetooth devices, microwave ovens, baby monitors and cordless phones.

For the first time ever, Denon now offers a Range Extender as an optional add-on to its HEOS speakers. The HEOS Exten is actually designed not only to help your speakers talk to one another, but it also strengthens the entire home network for all Wi-Fi devices. It’s perfect for getting around difficult Wi-Fi conditions.

Denon HEOS Speakers Content and Playback

Once set up, sit back and enjoy your experience with access to the world’s leading online music services. With USB and NAS playback, the HEOS by Denon Multi-Room-Wireless Sound system allows users to also stream music collections stored on a hard drive, thumb drive or NAS drive. Play content locally, to another Denon wireless speaker, or to all Denon wireless speakers with playback times that don’t miss a beat when it comes to responsiveness.

Features & Specifications

Denon HEOS 7 Wireless Speaker

• Two Custom tweeters & mid-woofers
• Large subwoofer & two passive radiators
• Power: 5 dedicated Class D amplifiers
• Brushed metallic apex
• Retail: $599.99

Denon HEOS 5 Wireless Speaker

• Carry handle
• Two custom-designed tweeters
• Two mid-woofers and a passive radiator
• Power: 4 dedicated Class D amplifiers
• Retail: $399.99

Denon HEOS 3 Wireless Speaker

• Horizontal or vertical placement
• Can be perfectly synchronized for stereo pairing
• Dual custom full range drivers
• Power: 2 dedicated Class D amplifiers
• Retail: $299.99

HEOS EXTEND

• Wireless extender
• Dual band “N”
• Retail: $99.99

The Denon HEOS Multi-Room Wireless Sound System will be followed up with some pre-amp/amp expansion products in the next several months. These will allow for the integration of legacy audio products, something that is sure to please those who have some source components they’d like to add into their whole home wireless speaker system.