General Amplifier Information

Leaving Equipment On and Tube Amp Ventilation

LTA equipment is designed to be left on all the time, as long as the ventilation is adequate. Most of our products use vacuum tubes that generate most of the heat. Even though the ZOTL circuitry operates at ⅓ the heat, there is still a lot of heat coming from the tubes.  Racks or shelves where the amplifier is located should have an inch or two of clearance above the amplifier, and preferably an open back.   

Amps sound better when left on longer

When we go to audio shows, we set up and leave everything on overnight. In the morning the show starts. Everything sounds noticeably better the next day of the show. And by the last day, everything is exceptional.  So, leave your equipment on, well ventilated, and by the 3rd day, you can listen and really experience the maximum quality.

Subwoofer Outputs

If you have speakers that can play deep bass (typically speakers with 8 inch or larger woofers) it is unlikely that you need a sub, as our amplifiers go down to below 10Hz. The quality of the ZOTL bass exceeds any subwoofer.

However, for many reasons some require subwoofers. Almost all of our amps have a dedicated sub out.

In the Integrated amplifiers and the Z10e, there are two identical output RCA subwoofer output. The two outputs can be configured as both mono output or stereo output.  The subwoofer output is full range, with no frequency filter. The outputs go through a high quality isolated opamp, so it is not considered equivalent to the tube preamp output.

In the Velo and MicroZOTL Preamplifier, we have two identical sets of RCA outputs. One can be used for the preamplifer output and one could used for the subwoofer output.