DENON HOME HEOS NETWORKED SPEAKERS

Now available at specialist dealers as well as mass retailers Denon's HEOS system offers a number of different speakers in a variety of sizes, and Denon has built HEOS into all of its new receivers, as well.

Denon, the classic Japanese audio brand that's been making audio gear for 110 years, introduced this range consisting of three models he Denon Home 150 at $399, the Home 250 at $699 and $995 Home 350.

The Home 150 is the entry-level model with a combination of a 3.5-inch woofer and 1-inch tweeter. The Home 250 has a pair of tweeters which are angled to create a wider soundstage, while the midrange and bass are produced through two 4-inch woofers.

Each driver has its own digital amplifier, plus there's a 5.25-inch passive bass radiator that works a bit like a subwoofer. Finally, the Denon Home 350 is the beast in the line-up with six channels of amplification feeding two 6.5-inch woofers, a pair of 2-inch midrange drivers, plus two tweeters for the treble detail.

Sound United, the parent company that owns the Denon brand, has expanded the Denon HEOS range and added it to the company's Marantz audio brand in a bid to make extend interoperability.

When it comes to music streaming services, each home speaker has the following services baked into their firmware: Spotify, Amazon Music HD, TIDAL, TuneIn and Deezer. Other music sources such as Apple Music can be streamed from a smartphone, tablet or computer via Apple AirPlay 2 or Bluetooth.

A USB socket and 3.5mm aux input on each speaker also enables users to play music from a thumb drive or even from an old-fashioned analogue source. The DSP (digital signal processor) in the home speakers can handle a wide range of digital music files such as ALAC, FLAC and WAV files up to 192kHz/24-bit, as well as DSD 2.8MHz and 5.6MHz