The 818 seems to me not to be a "gateway" product, but a serious two channel product that doesn't waste engineering or silicon on a spinner when their M-Sooloos customers wouldn't use it. It leverages the heritage of a platform of one of the best reviewed stereo products (808.v3) plus some new Sooloos technology (ID41).

I prefer watching sports and films in my primary listening room (currently 861v6) with DD 5.1, if I ever revisit that decision, moving the 861 to my HT perhaps, the 818 would be in serious consideration.

The new product marketing decisions ( smaller DSP speakers, emphasis on 2 channel stereo products, cheaper intro Sooloos products ) seem sound and hopefully will lead to more new customers and upgrading existing customers.


Primary: 818v3+ID41, M6 stereo pair, M SpeakerLink cabling, Sonos+96kHz Cullen, silver DSW
HT: Marantz prepro, 271, DSP3300, 8K SE FL/FR pair, DSP M6x2, DSP320x4 (ceiling), black DSW, 520 RL/RR rear in-walls
Living Room: G65, 640 L/R in-walls, UHD722, MS600
Vac. Home: G61, HD621, 4xDSP3100, DSP3100HC
MDMS:NUC/ROCK+TrueNAS Core 12.0 ZFS file server