Will preamp manufacturers tell you if the model is phase inverse?

Remember that you want to take the entire amplification chain into account. So (for example) if you have:

• Phono stage (non-inverting)
• Line stage (inverting)
• Amplifier (inverting)

Then your signal path is non-inverting.  With multiple sources, you might have one source which results in an inverted signal and another that does not.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier Design

Hi @pops,

don’t you mean the signal is inverting since your example cites one as non-inverting and two as interting? What am I missing?

No, that example is non-inverting.

All we're doing is adding the number of gain stages in the signal path. A non-inverting component has an even number of gain stages and an inverting component has an odd number of gain stages.

Think of it this way:

• For a non-inverting component, assign 2 (or any even number).
• For an inverting component, assign 1 (or any odd number).

So: non-inverting + inverting + inverting:
2+1+1 = 4.

Even number of gain stages = non-inverting.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier Design