Question about inverting polarity

Does not matter either way. I do it at the amp end for convenience when I demo other equipment.

My phono stage is also inverted. I switch it at the cartridge with preamps that are not inverted.

This could drive you nuts. The inverted phono stage is in phase with an inverted preamp.

I hope this is not a tangent, but my Marantz SA-1 SACD player inverts polarity through its balanced outputs, which I've been using (inverted) for 1 1/2 years. Since I was recently alerted by another thread about this player, I have been reversing polarity via a switch on my BAT preamp (can switch it back and forth via the remote) and do not LIKE the sound w/the corrected polarity! It sounds "brighter" to me, less rounded and tubey, which I consider the strengths of this system. So I'd like to know what you think if you listen to your preamp both ways. Why do manufacturers even build equipment that reverses the polarity and just causes all this angst?? Why can't they wire it right to begin with?
consider me,
Confused

Sarah; Reversing polarity is not necessarily the same as being out of phase. You may be reversing polarity of the AC power, much like reversing the AC plug. This is not changing the phase of the output to the amp. I am not familiar with BAT preamps to know if that switch reverses the phase to the amplifier or just the AC polarity. You should consult with BAT on that (check the manual). Reversing the AC polarity to the wrong polarity will usually make it brighter as you describe.

Preamp makers make their preamps out of phase (going out the amp outputs) usually because less is more. Their designs are simple and clean (and out of phase), and would require an additional gain stage to bring them back in phase. The addition of another gain stage would degrade the signal.

Conrad Johnson preamps are out of phase. You could call them or drop by on your way around the beltway and have them explain it better than I can. They are behind the Home Depot at Route 50 and Route 29 in Fairfax.

Sometimes CDs are recorded with the polarity reversed (by mistake), but reversing wires won't help. It needs to be corrected at the DAC. Some CD players have a switch on the remote to reverse the polarity for these CDs.

sarah: my boulder 1012 also allows remote polarity inversion, which the (very handsome) manual explains nicely as being different from phase inversion. here’s what it says:

NOTE: Often polarity is mistakenly called phase. As phase indicates any angle between two channels from 0 to 360 degrees, the correct term of polarity is preferred to indicate the 180º phase change, or inversion, available on the 1012 DAC Preamplifier.

so, as I understand it, cd’s and even tracks on the same cd are frequently recorded, intentionally or not, with “positive” or “negative” polarity. By toggling between these settings on a polarity inverter of the same form employed on the boulder 1012, you can replicate the polarity of the original recording. my experimentation has also shown that “positive” polarity is the preferred setting for “normal” listening of cd’s or lp’s. this translates, i believe, to the pre being connected "in phase" or in "common polarity" with the amp.

-cfb