VPI cartridge install f/phase inverting pre

04-03-13: Mofimadness
I've never seen or heard of a preamp with a built-in phono
stage, where ONLY the phono stage inverts phase? Usually
it's all or none, but maybe they do exist?

This is very common in older tube preamps, each 1/2 tube gain stage inverts phase and if you have an odd number of gain stages in a stage, it usually ends up inverted. It is not uncommon for either of the line or phono to invert phase.
Pays to check the manual.

Dover...thanks for info. I did not know this. I was wondering how a line stage and phono stage in the same chassis, using the same power supply, could do this.

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.