My father-in-law has asked me for advice about a soundbar he is considering buying. I don't really know anything about soundbars so I figured I would turn to a crowd of people who probably do.The deal he's been offered is the Pioneer SBX-N700 from Noel Leeming for $799. I checked their website, but they have no record of the product. It doesn't even show up on Pricespy. In fact, the only place I've found that mentions it is Pioneer's NZ website - http://www.pioneernz.co.nz/nz/products/42/99/161/SBX-N700/page.htmlI asked him what he's wanting it for. He said it was mostly to make his classical CDs sound good. He has a stereo at the moment, which is perfectly fine, but it's over 20 years old and he's worried that it will give up the ghost when he retires (sometime next year) and he wants to replace it before then. The other reason for buying a soundbar is to improve the sound from his Panasonic 42" LCD TV. He has Sky and a DVD player (which he doesn't use much), but mostly it's watching TV, and he's having difficulty hearing it properly (especially dialogue). He lives in a rented flat with awkward space, making a full 5.1 setup difficult. Hence, he's keen on the soundbar approach because it's simple and fits easily into his space.I pointed out to him that to play back his CDs via the soundbar he would either have to connect the DVD player to it and play them back through there, or rip his CDs to USB, or to his iPhone and use bluetooth - neither of which is really conducive to high sound quality (i.e. being able to hear individual sections of the orchestra).So I eventually come to my questions:1. Anyone know anything about this Pioneer soundbar? Is it a good audio option for things like listening to music and enhancing TV sound? How does it compare with other approaches? How does it compare with other soundbars?2. If this soundbar isn't a recommended option, what would you recommend? A different soundbar? A different setup? My inclination would be a more modest soundbar just to improve the TV sound, and then a semi-decent stereo for listening to music, rather than an all-in-one approach. But is that feasible within an $800 budget? Lots of questions I know, but I'm keen to hear what people think about this.
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