Gadgetory

hey I'm Matthew Muscovy AK from C net and we're taking a look at the pioneer SP SB 23w this is the highly anticipated sound bar from pioneers line of andrew jones design budget speakers and the whole system is selling for $400 a pioneer doesn't look like your typical plasticky sound bar it sports a composite wood cabinet that's better for sound quality but does add bulk to the system it stands at about 4 inches high and if you're placing it on your TV cabinet it might end up blocking your TV's remote sensor the styling is a little boring with a black vinyl finish but it looks good enough sitting under your TV the included subwoofer is Wireless and it's tiny it's actually probably one of the smallest subwoofers I've seen with a cell bar system that makes it easy to hide in your living room although it does sound best within a few feet of the sound bar the included remote isn't great with a wafer-thin design that's hard to navigate by feel luckily you can program the sound bar to respond to commands from your TV or cable box remote or even better you can use a universal remote around back you'll find a bare minimum selection of ports an analog input and an optical input that might not seem like much but it's plenty if you use your TV as a switcher by connecting all your devices directly to your TV and then connecting your TV's audio output to the sound bar there's also built-in bluetooth with support for the better sounding app X codec and that will let you wirelessly stream audio from just about every mobile device but the real reason to get excited about this product is its sound quality the Pioneer sounds better than just about any sound bar we've heard and certainly better than any sound bar at this price the little sub delivers a surprising amount of low-end and it blends particularly well with the sound bar that blender really contributes to the overall natural sound so while other systems may try and value with excessive bass or virtual surround effects the Pioneer simply strives to sound more like a set of good balanced speakers that's why it's one of the few sound bars that actually sounds good with music as well as movies and most sound bars can't handle music that well we compared it directly to two excellent sound bars the JBL SB 400 and the sony HTC t2 60 and the Pioneer clearly sounded best with a wide range of content although the JBL can sound a little bit more powerful on movies but the bottom line is that you're not going to get a better sounding home audio system without spending more than this and even if you do spend more the pioneers still sounds better than a lot of the pricier sound bars that are on the market so while there are some nagging design issues they're relatively minor and worth putting up with if you care about sound which is why the pioneer SP SB 23w earns the Editors Choice Award in the sound bar category I'm Matthew moscovia and this is the pioneer SP SP 23w