Welcome to the forum!
I recently purchased the VSX-23. It's a nice unit, but I think that you can save some money given your constraints. Some nice things about the VSX-23 are the decoding of the newer lossless codecs (e.g. Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD MA), pre-amp outputs for external amplifiers, and 12V triggers for external amplifiers. With a front soundbar and in-ceiling surround speakers, I doubt that you'd be able to tell much (if any) difference between the new lossless codecs (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA) and the lossy codecs (Dolby Digital and DTS), and you likely will have no need for external amplification.
If you like Pioneer and want audio processing over HDMI (including decoding of the lossless codecs), but don't need external amplifiers or some of the extra frill of the Pioneer Elite line, you might want to consider the VSX-1019 or even the VSX-919.