Denon DHT-FS3 home theater system

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Features

The Denon DHT-FS3 speaker features six 3.15-inch mid-bass drivers, driven by five 22W amplifiers (perhaps the sixth driver is driven "passively"). The subwoofer has a 6.25-inch woofer powered by a 40W amplifier located in the speaker (meaning the sub doesn't need its own power cord).

Denon's proprietary X-Space Surround technology works in conjunction with Dolby Digital and DTS processing. The DHT-FS3 can't decode the more intense Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD soundtracks found on Blu-ray discs, so you'll get the fallback Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks from your Blu-ray player.

Considering the DHT-FS3's upper-end pricing, audio connectivity is good but not exceptional. There are two stereo analog inputs (red/white RCA jacks), three digital inputs (one coaxial, two optical) and a dock control input for use with Denon's AS-D1R iPod dock (sold separately). There's a 3.5mm headphone jack on the front panel and Dolby Headphone processing that simulates surround sound over stereo headphones.

We were surprised to see that the DHT-FS3 not only lacks HDMI switching, it also doesn't offer any video switching at all. That means you'll have to run your sources' audio connections to the Denon, and the corresponding video outputs to the TV, and switch both inputs simultaneously (when moving from, say, a Blu-ray player to settop box). That can be accomplished automatically via a universal remote macro, but it's still an annoyance that needs to be accounted for.

Tags: TV, 3M Co., Speaker, cable, LCD

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