Preamp Deal of the Century

Tvad,
The bleed thru is because of the unshielded point to point Silver wire used. I believe a little bleed thru is normal and the price for the transparency. Forgive obvious questions,as I know you're rather knowledgeable,but I believe there's a tape monitor switch of some kind located on the top,in the front on the right hand side. I have a Syrah so it's different,but I think the Cortese has it as well. If it's turned the wrong way,it'll act as a mute. As a rule,don't fool with any of the top switches while the pre's on unless you like to test your speaker's max excursion(HT bypass excepted). ;^)
Also,if I read your question correctly,wouldn't Aux 2 input correspond to selector position 2 or 3,not #4? Given #1 is phono,I would think you'd get sound at #2 or #3. I'm not at home so I could be remembering incorrectly.
Good luck

Tvad,
Yes, HT is one of the inputs (I don't remember wich one)- connect R and L front channels outs of your pre to this input on Cortese, that's it.

I have read part of this thread and am interested in the Chardonnay, but I am trying to understand how the HT bypass work and have a couple of other questions to see if it suits my needs:
- I understand that the HT bypass involves a switch to be manually positioned and it works with the Chardonnay switched off. So if I connect the HT pre/pro to the input with bypass and I switch off the Chardonnay I can then use the pre/pro through the main speakers without the Chardonnay interfering in the sound. Is this correct? Please explain me how this works with very simple words, as I am having troubles understanding this HT by-pass thing
- Does the remot control only operates on the volume control, or does it also switch the unit on and off, or does it also allow to switch from an input to another?
- Do you have a rough idea of how long it takes at the moment between ordering and receiving the unit?

I don't know if any of you have heard of Podium Speakers, but Mick seems to think they may be the perfect speaker for the Supratek amps and preamps. He has a pair on their way to him now. he told me he would send me his impressions of them. If you want to check them out the website is www.podiumsound.co.uk