Now and then, you must change the default WiFi network on the Denon S-32 internet radio. Why? Because perhaps your WiFi network has changed SSID names or passwords. Or, your office IT expert asks you to move your S-32 to a less busy network. Or, perhaps you were connecting to a city Wi-Fi hotspot that has since gone silent. In any case, setting the saved network is simple. We’ll walk through how to connect to WiFi on the Denon S 32 internet radio. Plus, we also include pictures of the radio’s screen faces, as seen during this task.
You can switch from a still-working network, or from a broken one. In either case, the WiFi setup routine stays the same. Here, we detail the case where the radio fails to connect to a WiFi network that worked before. We then show how to set a new, in-range network.
Note that reconnect WiFi does not erase any settings you programmed into your radio at the Denon Internet Radio Portal. Once you reconnect WiFi, your stations once more appear on the radio.
Before starting, make sure your desired WiFi network is on the air. Then, attach the included WiFi antenna to the antenna port on S-32 back. Point it straight up. If you’re not sure about the network, test it first with another WiFi device.
How to Connect WiFi on Denon S 32 Radio: Step by Step
1. Connect WiFi on Denon S 32: Turn the Radio On
When you tap the power button, you’ll see the “Please Wait” message. The bottom line, shows several status messages as the S-32 powers up. In the next picture, the “Checking function…,” message displays.
After some seconds, that message goes away. The radio then flashes the, “Please Wait,” message. It gives no detail about what’s happening, as shown next. Just that message.
The “Please Wait” message blinks for up to a minute. A long message display time here shows that S-32 cannot connect to the previously used Wi-Fi network. However, if linking had succeeded, the radio would play the last played station. However, when the “Server Error” message discussed next appears, the connection failed. The radio could not reach the saved WiFi network. So read on to find out how to change that saved WiFi network.
2. Last Internet Station Played Does Not Play Now
The S-32 can take many seconds while connecting. But after that long “Please wait,” message as shown above, it gives up trying. Then, you set the “Server error,” text, as pictured next.
This message stays onscreen for up to ten seconds. Then, a kind of “Idle” screen replaces it, shown next. This screen normally displays when a station stream is playing. It shows the station name, the percent fullness of the buffer, and how long the stream has been playing. When a blank screen shows, you know it’s time to reconnect WiFi.
3. To Connect WiFi on Denon S 32, Bring Up the Source Menu
Press the Source button when the radio is on, as pictured below. This brings up the Sources Selection menu.
Then, press and release the Source button, and the Source Selection menu displays, as pictured next.
4.How to Connect WiFi on Denon S 32 Radio: Bring Up the Setup Menu
Rotate the volume knob left one notch. Find the volume knob near the top front right corner of the S-32, as shown next.
This selects the Setup menu item. It’s the screwdriver and wrench icon on the screen, as shown next.
5. Enter the S-32 Setup Menu
With the wrench-and-screwdriver item highlighted as shown above, press and release the volume knob. The radio then displays that menu as follows.
6. Find the Network Setting Menu Item
Turn the Volume knob until the Network Setting menu item appears in black-on-white, as shown next.
7. How to Connect WiFi on Denon S 32 Radio: Enter the Network Setting Menu
Press and quickly release the Volume knob.
This brings up the Network Setup menu, as shown next.
8. Scan for Available WiFi Networks
Select the Search menu item by turning the Volume knob, as shown in the last picture. Then, quickly press and release the Volume knob.
This starts a 2.4 Ghz. band scan for in-range WiFi b/g networks. During this scan, the S-32 displays three dots that flash on and off.
This scanning screen appears in the next picture.
The radio sees neither Wireless N nor Wireless AC access points. Nor will it see any network that broadcasts on the 5 Ghz. band. Therefore, to play this radio via WiFi, you’ll need an in-range 2.4 Ghz. 802.11 b/g router / access point.
After some seconds, the net scan completes.
Then, the S-32 lists the in-range WiFi networks it found. These appear on the Select the AP screen, as shown next. AP is short for WiFi Access Point.
9. Choose your Desired WiFi Network from the Access Point List
Turn the Volume knob left and right, until you highlight the WiFi network you want. How do you select a network? Spin the Volume knob. This moves the highlight bar around through the list. Then, stop when the selection bar rests on the network you want. Here, we picked the 937T681J4059H_2G WiFi network. This is the first one on the list. So, the S-32 selects it by default.
10. Start the Connection with the New WiFi Network
Then, quickly press and release the Volume knob.
The radio then displays the Connecting to network message.
Next, after a pause, the system displays the Enter Security Key screen, as shown next.
When that network shows as open, the radio connects to it without password prompting. But we strongly suggest that you secure your WiFi access points with WPA2 AES.
When the Input Security Key screen displays, it may show one or more letters hidden by stars (*). See this in the last picture. This means that someone connected successfully with this password for the last WiFi network. With a successful connection, the radio stores this password, and you see it here. Skip ahead to the next step if the password for your new WiFi network matches this one. Otherwise, read on.
If the password for your new network differs from the old one, then erase it. E.g. Press and release, the Minus / Rewind key once for each letter you wish to delete.
When you finish, find the Minus key near the Volume knob. Press and release the Minus key until all the stars disappear.
The Enter Security Key screen then looks as follows, with a blank password field.
11. Enter the Security Key (Password) for the New WiFi Network
First, enter each password character. To do that, turn the Volume knob left and right to get each character you want. When that character appears at the insert point, stop turning the Volume knob.
Next, press the Plus / Forward key to place that character into the password buffer. This also moves the cursor to the next character position to fill.
Repeat this process for each character you wish to enter.
Then after we entered all our password characters, the Input Security Key screen looked as follows.
When you enter the last character of the security key, do not press the Plus / Forward key after. See above, how the last password character entered, the ‘1’, still shows. Instead, when done, quickly tap the Volume knob. This ends password entry.
Then, the radio submits that password to the network. More details in next step.
When you press the Volume knob here, you’ll then see the Detail Setting screen appear, as shown next.
Spin the Volume knob until you select the Connection menu item, as shown next.
12. Make the Connection.
Then, quickly tap the Volume knob.
The S-32 then tries to log into the new WiFi network. It puts up the following screen, that says, Wireless Setup, Connecting, Please Wait. This screen also provides status text on the bottom line. In detail, these show connect process status.
Meanwhile, you may see other status updates too, such as Assigning Network, Checking Information, and Setting Parameter.
Around fifteen seconds later, the radio completes the S 32 connect to WiFi process.
Typically, the S 32 reconnect WiFi process takes a long time. Why? Because besides connecting WiFi, the S 32 also talks to the Radio Demon cloud servers. Normally, these respond slowly. So this lengthens this process a bit.
But soon, the S-32 displays the Connection succeeded screen, shown next.
After a few seconds, the S-32 returns you to the Network Setting menu. The radio selects the Exit menu item by default in this menu. Now, you could go to the Detail item to view the details about the new WiFi connection. But we leave this as an exercise for our readers.
Instead, we just press the Volume knob on Exit.
The S-32 then takes you to its main menu. Once there, you can choose from your favorites groups, and play your added stations.
If this menu displays, as shown next, then the connect WiFi task on the S 32 is complete.
13. Play a Station, Just to be Sure
Finally, check that the radio correctly plays an internet audio stream. To explain, we first went into Favorites. Then, we found the KYW News Radio 1060 stream. Then, we pressed the Volume knob to play it.
To conclude, the connect WiFi process worked if the radio stream plays.
Done!
Disclaimers
- These instructions apply to S-32 radios running the current firmware version as of February 28th, 2015. Use the check-for-updates feature, to verify that you’re running the latest firmware version.
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