Conrad Johnson PV10AL Tube & Polarity Questions?

My pv10al owner's manual did come with the seperate sheet of paper (red, I believe) warning of phase inversion. Your dna does not invert phase, so swap the neg. and pos. leads on your speakers. As always, let your ears be the final judge. As for tubes, I've tried Phillips, Mullard, Amperex, and GE. Even within a brand name, there are variations (military spec, etc.) Even in my modest system, I can hear tube-related differences much more clearly than, for example, swapping different cables. Right now I'm running Mullards, but we probably like different things. My advice would be to buy a bunch of cheapo, used tubes from ebay until you find a set you like--then buy the same tubes from a reputable NOS tube dealer. And do unplug your pre before messing around with tubes.

I did look in my pv10al box and low and behold there was the polarity warning, and shersta you are right it is red!

Argh! So do I invery polarity or not? At the speakers or the amp?
thanks
John

ALL cj pre amps invert polarity. It's a given.

"ALL cj pre amps invert polarity. It's a given."

Wow--THAT's such a misstatement I'd considered it a lie.

Not all c-j preamps invert signal polarity. Those that have an odd number of gain stages do indeed invert polarity, as do all preamps (or poweramps, for that matter) of any brand that have an odd number of gain stages*.

John, generally, the easiest way to invert the signal polarity of your system is to reverse the speaker positive and negative leads at EITHER the amp(s) or the speakers but not at both locations.

*--a cathode follower is not a gain stage and does NOT invert signal polarity.
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