Some amps have high input gain because they are designed to be used with passive preamps which have no gain at all. I can tell you that CJ amps need a preamp with relatively high gain to properly drive them. 18db of gain is higher than average.
I have owned some CJ preamps and they do invert phase. I corrected the phase by reversing the wiring to the speaker binding posts. I couldn't tell any difference myself. It could be because some recordings are already recorded with inverted phase.
I have owned some CJ preamps and they do invert phase. I corrected the phase by reversing the wiring to the speaker binding posts. I couldn't tell any difference myself. It could be because some recordings are already recorded with inverted phase.