Preamp Deal of the Century

Artar: The Cortese sounds 'beautiful' for want of a better word. It *will* sound romantic if the nature of the recording demands it, and ruthlessly revealing if there is lots of information on the disc.

Midrange purity and correctness is a particular strength of the Cortese. You have to understand that Mick used a pair of stacked Quad ESL-57 electrostaic loudspeakers for a number of years before going to Edgar Horns and now Goodmans Axioms, so you have a person/designer who really appreciates nice midrange and strong dynamics from his speakers (there is no better midrange than that found in the Quad ESL).

The Cortese is 'alive' sounding with excellent 3 Dimensional and spacial presentation - on superb recordings the soundstage is brought right into your living room! I use upsampling 24 bit 96/192 kHz DACs and the full effect of these wonderful DA converters is realised with this preamp.

Regards

Steve M.

Jazzdude,

I hope that I did not give the impression that the Cortese is bright in anyway because I don't believe that to be the case from what you and others have said about the unit in this forum and elsewhere. So I apologize if there's any misunderstanding.

If my understanding about the Cortese is correct, it has the balance, neutrality, clarity, detail, impact, immediacy, and dynamics of a First Sound Presence preamp. The Cortese, however, offers a touch more lushness and sweetness than the First, which gives the Cortese a life-like sound that is not too ruthless and unforgiving. It puts instruments and voices in the room in an uncanny way, something few components are capable of.

If my view of the unit, of course without hearing it, is somehow way off base, please correct me. After all, those who have purchased the Cortese began where I am now -- poised to take the leap of faith that will lead to sonic bliss.

Stevem1960,

Thanks for your insights about the Cortese. You have given me a better understanding about how the unit sounds.

Cheers

I could not believe it, this is such a long thread that I cannot even finish reading it.

Artar 1, by George, I think you've got it!