Customer Reviews

Denon S302 DVD Home Theater System

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Listed below are my thoughts on the S-302 after a week of use.

Styling
The styling is fair. This is very subjective, but the cabinet does not really look like it should cost $1700. I very much like the compact size. The controls look fine and feel solid.

Sound
I am not an audiophile, so take this with a grain of salt. I believe the quality of the sound is very good when playing music. The bass was not too deep and the highs were very clear. There was a good separation of instruments on some the jazz recordings. I tested this with various types of music using sources from CD, FM, and MP3 (VBR 165-175 kbps).

DVD
This is a 2.1 system and to me that is what it sounds like. Watching several movies, I never had the illusion of 5.1. The sound is fine, the sub-woofer did a bit too much shaking of the apartment for my tastes, but this is easily adjustable with a dedicated button on the remote. Occasionally the voices did not seem to come from the correct place on the screen. This could be due to the location of the speakers as they are at the bottom of the screen since the stands are not yet available.

The picture from the DVD is very good. I have the S-302 connected via HDMI connection to my 42" plasma, which is 1080i. The picture is extremely sharp. No noticeable jagged lines.

The memory function of the DVD does not work very well. If you stop the DVD and turn off the unit, it will remember the location when you turn it back on. If you switch to another source (e.g., tuner) and return to the DVD, it starts at the beginning of the movie. Not the menus or the FBI warnings, so it appears that it recognizes that this DVD has not been newly inserted.


Internet/USB
This unit is equipped with WiFi (802.11b/g) and ethernet network capabilities. I was not able to get the wireless to work. My WPA key contains spaces and I could not figure out how to enter a space in the key. I removed the spaces from my key. I then turned off security. All of these options failed to connect. I then connected the device using a power line ethernet adapter and was able to connect. This connection is not reliable and I cannot tell if it is the adapter or the S-302. Occasionally, when starting the unit, it will try to connect using the wireless. This should occur only when the direct ethernet connection is not present.

The interface for the internet radio is easy to use. The stations are categorized by genre and country of origin. Although you can get to a station with this interface, a search feature would greatly facilitate getting to a known station. The interface for the USB is not so friendly. It is just a directory listing of the USB drive. It would be easier to navigate if it used the ID3 information to group by artist, album, genre, etc.

Tuner
While the quality of the sound from the tuner is very good, tuning of stations is very frustrating. There are three modes. FM Auto, FM Mono, and AM. When in FM Auto, the unit will not let you enter a weak station. Direct input of the station results in no sound whatsoever. Switching to FM Mono, the station can be entered and listened to. Entering a preset for this will remember which mode it is in, so this is necessary only once. Also, in the FM Auto mode, if a station starts to fade, it just goes out. It is either tuned or not tuned, so it can just keep cutting out. I would rather have static, but to do that I would have to use the FM Mono for all of my stations.

[...]

I Choose this 2.1 system for features and ease of set up. DVD Quality is excellant, fills entire room with sound. CD/music audio is good, but wont blow the windows out of the house which I didnt expect. WiFi Internet radio took about 3 days to figure out. Denon does not support uPnP with netgear routers. I eventually found this out on their website. Internet radio has 7K+ stations with no commercials. No support for Pandora though. Good funtions with Wii video games thru component cables, no lag, It has a rock arena sound setting which is good for rock band. Wife and 5yr old can operate system. This may be an overpriced system, but I am hopeing it makes up for it with longevity.

I bought the S302 in June of 08, and have had WAY too many problems with it. First, after about four months of use the system started to freeze up for no apparent reason. The only way to get it to work again was to unplug it for a while. I took it in for repairs (under warranty), and they kept it for three weeks. When I got it back I noticed a crackle in the subwoofer, so back to the shop it went. They kept it for four MORE weeks. Now, just a little over four months out of warrnty, the subwoofer has crapped out and needs replacement.

The design is pretty, and the sound is okay (for what it is), but the quality leaves MUCH to be desired. I'm back to using my 20+ year-old Onkyo system. Bottom line: there's a lot of competition out there for your stereo/home theater money, so leave the Denons in the store.

When I first got the unit it made a a loud buzzing noise from thee subwoofer. I took it in for repairs and it no longer buzzes, but now it turns off on it's own and won't turn back on until I unplug it. It also will get stuck playing a disc and i can't stop it or turn it off without unplugging it. Absolute waste of money.

Bought these in September 2010, also included the beautiful aluminum Denon Speaker Stands.

Looks: This system looks fantastic! They have a brushed aluminum face on the main unit, with silver finish on the speaker/subwoofer. The speaker stands are made of heavy duty steel and aluminum and they are heavy! This makes the stands bottom-heavy for excellent satellite support and stability. Most satellite speaker stands are flimsy and skinny! Not these Denon's. The look is modern, the construction robust, and will look right at home in a contemporary home.

Set Up: Very easy for everything except the WiFi. The wiring was very simple and the speaker wires were the easiest of any sound system I have ever used. They use plugs for the connectors, which are way, way, better than having exposed wires at the ends like most. This makes connections very fast. The speaker wires were also 10 gauge, heavy duty wires for really good sound transfer.

DVD/CD Player: NOT a Blu Ray player is a downer. In this day and age, BR format is a must. However, it does a great job of upconverting standard DVD's to 1080p resolution. Not all DVD's will come out looking HD but most current DVD's will. My guess is, older DVD's made in the 1990's, or made from old film stock will not upconvert well. 75% of modern DVD's seem to upconvert to 1080p. So, even without Blu Ray capability, the DVD will give users with a large DVD collection added value and viewing pleasure.

WiFi: Forget it! I could not get the WiFi to work even after manually plugging in the IP Address, etc. My guess is my Wireless Router, which is the Dual Band, Wireless-G is not powerful enough to send the signal downstairs into the family room where the Denon S-302 is. May work better with a hard wired LAN network instead of WiFi. Thankfully, my Vizio LED LCD flatscreen is capable of WiFi and I simply used that for WiFi access. Compared to the Denon, the Vizio WiFi set up was a snap. In any case, to access WiFi with the Denon S-302, you need to have the TV on anyway to see the on-screen menus. The LED display on the Denon S-302 is barely viewable from 12 feet away. Thus, it made more sense to use the Vizio flatscreen for WiFi Streaming of music and HD movies.

Sound: This part is the S-302's ace in the hole. The speaker satellites and the powered Sub are very well integrated soundwise. No frequencey, whether it's high, mid, or low overwhelms the other. Voices sound crystal clear and lifelike. I could easily understand dialogue in movies. The lows are strong and thumpy without being overwhelming and boomy. No, it won't rock the house like a 12" subwoofer with a 400 watt amplifier will. But it wasn't meant to, nor does it come with a subwoofer box the size of a coffee table! Instead, the S-302's speaker system is relatively compact, and can best be characterized as having a great balance of sound across the board, which gives clear sound that won't be tiring after a hours of listening. I was amazed how well Acoustic music was reproduced so accurately for such a small, movie-biased sound system. The sound does have a narrow soundstage so the listener is best to sit within a 2 foot area to get the best sound. The Bass response was not so narrow focused and strong bass was evident in a larger listening area. Just keep in mind the bass will NOT sound like a massive boom box. The bass is strong and powerful yet very clear. It just won't shake the foundation off your viewing room!

Surround: Nil. This is a 2.1 system that relies on simulated surround via reverberation (delay) of certain sounds to simulate rear speakers. So no, it won't sound anywhere near a 5.1 or 7.1 system. But for 80% of listeners, that won't matter much because the sound coming from up front is excellent for a system such as this. For me, I was more concerned with minimizing size, wiring, and complexity, without sacrificing sound quality. Surround sound realism was NOT my primary concern.

Overall: Compared to its peers, the S-302 beats them all. The most popular of all 2.1 systems: the Bose 3.2.1 system sounds like crap compared to the Denon S-302! The Bose is all midrange! The Denon S-302 is balanced with strength across the whole sound spectrum capabilities of the satellites and 8" powered subwoofer. Speaker placement is crucial though, especially subwoofer placement. I got the best result placing the sub between the satellites with the sub firing towards the corner. I also got the best sound out of the satellites using the speaker stands and positioning the sats are ear level. Most satellites/subwoofer systems like this is similar this way and is one of its largest downfalls on sound quality. Their modular nature makes them easier to place but their positioning is very important to maximize their sound quality to the listening area! If Denon can make WiFi set up much simpler and effective, put a Blu Ray player in place of the DVD player, the S-302 would get 5-stars and be THE perfect 2.1 system!

THIS COMPACT AV SYSTEM BY DENON REPRESENTS AN INCREDIBLE AURAL EXPERIENCE. THE POWER AND RANGE OF THIS COMPACT SYSTEM IS REMARKABLE, SUPERIOR TO ALL BUT THE MOST EXPENSIVE BOSE AV SYSTEMS. AS A FORMER OWNER OF THE BOSE 123 SYSTEM , THE AUDIO EXPERIENCE CANNOT BE COMPARED, THE AUDIO PROCESSING WITH THE S302 IS TRULY WITHOUT COMPARE FOR A SYSTEM THIS SIZE.

Got this on special with the purchase of a new TV from a local Audio/Video store, and I have to say the sound quality is amazing for 2.1. I would go so far as to say it's the best 2.1 system I have ever heard. Both in music and in movies, the sound is crystal clear through the whole dB range and very well balanced, with no one instrument or sound drowning out another.

My one complaint is that setting up the WiFi is a pain. It took me a long while to get it working, though luckily I did not have to change any router settings. One other minor complaint is that it is not a Blu-Ray player. Not a big deal since I already have one, but it seems like Denon should upgrade this model to include a Blu-Ray option (if they haven't done so already).

Other things to note...setting up the system (minus the WiFi) was a snap, took me about 15 minutes. The included cables have intuitive connectors and the overall build of the cables and the system itself have a quality feel to them. When the DVD player is running, it is very quiet, though that is in comparison to my PS3 which is a bit loud.

I think this is a great system depending on the price you find it at. I would think $1200 would be justified only if it came with a Blu-Ray player. I got this system for half that, and at that price you probably won't find anything better.

For starters I had to send the unit back because it kept turning off for no reason at all. The lights would be on, but the LED screen would go blank. That already had me shaking my head because of the price.

On top of that the two speakers make a humming noise at low volume. It sounds great if you turn it up and rattle the walls, but if people are asleep and you want to watch TV you might as well turn it off. The humming noise completely drowns out the words and all you hear is background sounds and music. I'm not talking about super low volume either, I'm talking about normal night time movie watching volume around 1/4 of the way up. I've spent hours adjusting the settings, there's really no way around it. The volume has to be loud.

The WiFi has never connected even though three computers and my smart phone have absolutely no problem at all picking up our 802.11n setup.

To top off my waste of time and money, the subwoofer has stopped working, prompting me to write this review. All this is within a year. My Bose computer speakers are crisp, clear, and full sounding. I should have stayed with what I know works instead of reading "expert" reviews probably paid for by Dennon.