VPI cartridge install f/phase inverting pre

04-02-13: Rockyboy
If the owner's only source is a TT, does it matter if the change is made at the cartridge (as VPI instructs) or at the speakers?

No, it does not matter, though changing speaker leads is probably easier than changing the cartridge leads.

My preamp inverts polarity, but so does my CDP, so I invert the leads at the phono cartridge and leave the speaker cables alone.

My Cary SLP-98P F1 has a built in phono stage. The phono stage is non-inverting, the line stage IS inverting. My CDP's output is also inverted, so I invert the output of my cartridge, and run my speaker cables non-inverted.

Mofimadness, there is another part of the Cary manual that claims that only the line section inverts polarity. The manual is very confusing, so I called the Cary technical service. The engineers (two of them) went to the schematic and verified that the phono stage did NOT invert and the line stage did invert. Marketing floks write the manual, I've seen many cases where they write incorrect things.

There is another thread on this site about a miswritten Krell manual where it states that running balanced adds 6 dB gain, when in fact the preamp is not truely balanced design and no gain is added. It would be nice if all manuals were 100% factual, but that is not always the case.