The Company
Linear Tube Audio is a high-fidelity audio manufacturing company on a mission to create exceptional, exciting audio products.
Our amplifiers provide unparalleled accuracy and realism, putting you "in the room" of the original performance.
The heart of LTA’s amplifiers is the the patented Berning ZOTL technology. Sonically, this delivers tube naturalness and realism simultaneously with detail, transparency, and control.
Each unit is expertly built by hand in the United States.
History
Mark Schneider founded Linear Tube Audio in 2015. Coming from an extensive engineering career that included management, manufacturing, and product design – including being the architect behind the fastest document scanner in the world – Mark was forced into an early medical retirement. After a remarkable, multi-year recovery, he decided to commit himself to the passion that started a long time ago with a pair of 3-panel Magnepans, a Thorens turntable with an SME arm, and some SAE amplifiers.
Since the debut of ZOTL technology, other companies have tried unsuccessfully to manufacture David Berning’s complex designs. It was this uniqueness and complexity that attracted Mark to producing ZOTL amplifiers specifically, in addition to their spectacular sound. Each amplifier requires hours of hand-building, which is currently done in LTA’s Takoma Park, MD workshop.
Due to its continued high demand 8 years after production ended, Mark decided to have Linear Tube Audio debut by introducing an improved version of David Berning’s original MicroZOTL, the MicroZOTL2.0. For the amps following, Mark and David have worked collaboratively, with David designing the core amplifier circuitry to Mark’s specifications, and LTA creating the rest of the unit.
In 2023 Mark felt it was time to step back from daily company operations and focus on being a grandfather. Since then, production and development have been led by the same experienced team that built LTA alongside Mark from the beginning, continuing to work closely and collaboratively with David Berning. The Velo and Aero mark the first products from the new generation of leadership.