Denon's 2014 AV receivers packed with HDMI and wireless connectivity
The three new S-Series receivers from Denon all pack built-in Bluetooth and HDMI 2.0, starting at a very competitive $250 entry-level price.
Denon is always one of the last of the major manufacturers to announce its new AV receivers in a given year, but this year's models appear to have been worth the wait.
The new trio of S-Series receivers are particularly competitive based on the initial specs, which is a marked improvement on last year's comparatively feature-light models . The AVR-S500BT, AVR-S700W, and AVR-S900W all feature built-in Bluetooth and HDMI 2.0, with healthy HDMI connectivity ranging from five inputs on the entry-level model up to eight inputs and two outputs on the AVR-S900W.
Here's a quick rundown of how the S-Series line breaks down:
Denon AVR-S500BT ($250 USD)
- 5.2 channels
- 70 watts per channel
- Built-in Bluetooth
- Five HDMI inputs with support for HDMI 2.0
- Automatic speaker calibration
Denon AVR-S700W ($450 USD) step-up features
- 7.2 channels
- 75 watts per channel
- Built-in Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and AirPlay
- Six HDMI inputs
- Built-in support for DLNA 1.5, Pandora, Spotify Connect, and Sirius XM
- Native playback of MP3, WAV, AAC, WMA, FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, and DSD files
- Audyssey MultEQ, Dynamic EQ, Dynamic Volume
- Front panel USB input
Denon AVR-S900W ($600 USD) step-up features
- 90 watts per channel
- Eight HDMI inputs, two outputs
- Analog video upconversion
- 4K upscaling
Both the AVR-S500BT and AVR-S700W look to offer a lot of value, with more HDMI connectivity and lower prices than similar models introduced by Sony last month , while also including ample wireless connectivity. We'll need to get some hands-on time to see how they perform, but at first glance this is an impressive lineup from Denon.