SS quality pre-amp with HT bypass-suggestions?

Yup,gotta second the Jeff Rowland Capri,it's the piece de resistance for what you've described.

You probably know this, but you don't necessarily need an HT bypass to make this work. You can just set a HT "reference" volume level with any preamp (I used 12:00 or halfway for simplicity's sake) and when you're listening to HT just turn the knob to that position and you're good to go. Not quite as elegant as an HT bypass, but then you're not limited and can choose from any preamp available.

Best of luck.

The McCormack RLD 1 is a great pre with HT bypass, there's one on audiogon right now.

See vonwaffen ad. He's selling a PS Audio GCP 200/GCPS.

It's the very best 2 channel pre you can buy under $2K. It has HT bypass, is fully balanced, has RCA/XLR I/Os AND polarity control on the remote!

Search PS Audio and you will find his ad

I too would go with the Capri. It is a very good preamp and a bargain of a price. It is not as good as an Aesthetix Calypso and I personally would take the ARC Reference 3 over it. But it was/is good enough that I was able to move down from the Calypso to the Capri with only minimal drop in performance and the benefit is that I can leave it on all the time knowing that I am not burning up an $800 pair of tubes.