Speculating on the 818 for a moment.

As ncpl suggests: a two-channel digital pre-amp including ID40 and possibly including MRC. What else might it include? For that price it must have conventional SPDIF electrical and optical inputs and it may have analogue inputs and an ADC. Perhaps an on-board tuner? On the output side it would need options such as analogue RCA, analogue balanced, Speakerlink and (hopefully!!) SPDIF; perhaps for more than one zone?

It is the form factor that has me wondering. The 808 and 861 need to be great big things with the card-based architecture, disc drives and price tag. I have never liked their design, being a fan of the 500 series. Perhaps the 818 could be smaller, even with the range of inputs/outputs suggested above. But then re-use of 800-series cards would be impossible.

In the spirit of Spinaltap, I would like to confirm that I am not involved in the corrupt theft of a global sport.