Alexa is now baked into your Denon multi-room speakers
Denon’s Home smart speakers have always featured Alexa support, but the just-released U26 firmware update dramatically improves the experience… adding Amazon’s digital mix directly to your Denon speaker.
Initially you could only send content to a speaker like the Denon Home 250 through a paired Alexa smart speaker as the Amazon Echo Show 5. Denon’s new firmware now lets you talk to Alexa directly, using the speakers’ on-board microphones.
The Denon Home 150, 250 and 350, and the Denon Home Sound Bar 550 can now all be upgraded to feature Alexa built-in and effectively act as smart speakers.
Already own one? Denon advises you head into the HEOS app and check the microphones are switched on, and that the system is linked to your Amazon account.
Denon has also tweaked how the Denon Home 150, 250 and 350 speakers, and the Sound Bar 550, operate to suit.
A light strip along the front now shows when the microphones are “listening”, and capacitive buttons up top can be used to mute the mics, and activate Alexa without using a wake word.
Don’t like the sound of a speaker you bought as a home hi-fi listening to you? If you don’t enable Alexa, the microphones will remain disabled.
The company introduced its multi-room audio HEOS system in 2014 as a high fidelity multi-room alternative to Sonos.
HEOS was a big part of its speakers’ naming convention until Denon’s fluffier-sounding Home range was announced in late 2019, but only now has it received full voice support.
Denon’s soundbar finally gets full surround sound support
The Denon Home Sound Bar 550 gets more upgrades with the U26 firmware update too.
Denon says it has altered the soundbar’s DSP to improve bass. And other speakers in the range — the Denon Home 150, 250 and 350 — can now be linked to the soundbar in the HEOS app to let them act as rear satellite speakers.
You’ll end up with a 5.1 surround sound system, if you also pair up a compatible subwoofer like the Denon DSW-1H.
Sonos let you do this in 2013 when it introduced the Sonos Playbar and Sonos Play:1. But, to be fair to Denon, the Home Sound Bar 550 only went on sale in February 2021. It’s eight months late, not eight years.
The Denon Home Sound Bar 550 costs £599, while the Home 350, 250 and 150 are £549/£349/£189 respectively.
All are available to buy today.
