Z40+ Integrated Amplifier
Z40+ Integrated Amplifier
Our most powerful amp, which can power almost any speaker you throw at it, combined with a Berning-designed preamp and Fern & Roby case.
“The Z40i offers up as much detail as you could imagine, but doesn’t sacrifice the body and soul of the music.”
Z40+ Integrated Amplifier Overview
LTA’s most powerful, robust sounding amp
Room-filling soundstage with precise imaging
Up to 51 watts per channel, perfect for speakers 85dB or above
KT77 or Premium NOS EL34 output tubes
1 XLR Input, 4 RCA inputs
Subwoofer output
Optional MM/MC Phono Preamp
For those who demand the best, but want to keep things simple. The Z40+ Integrated amplifier delivers the magic, realism, and 3D soundstage of our patented ZOTL technology, all in one (gorgeous) package.
A single-component solution, the Z40+ Integrated amplifier incorporates the acclaimed ZOTL40+ Reference power amplifier, a Berning-designed preamplifier, and LTA’s digital control system–beautifully packaged in a Fern & Roby-designed case.
The Z40i+ generates up to 51 watts per channel. This means the Z40i+ can easily drive speakers with sensitivity ratings at or above 85db for critical listening. For smaller rooms or non-critical listening, it can drive speakers rated down to 80db. In any configuration, listeners enjoy startling realism, plentiful bass, low noise, plus gorgeous mids and highs.
“Maybe the best integrated amplifier I’ve ever had in my room…Yeah, I think it is the best.”
“The LTA Z40+ is a wonderfully appealing package in every way a piece of audio gear should be. It is beautifully designed, a pleasure to use, built around truly original thinking with a decades-long history of David Berning delivering the sonic goods, while offering musical performance that is seamless, rich, and endlessly rewarding.”
What’s New about the Plus+ Version
“There is tonal sheen, midrange elegance, and startling, controlled dynamics like never before. The Reference+ upgrades reveal more emotion in the music.”
LTA is proud to announce the next generation of our most powerful flagship integrated amp, the Z40+ Integrated Amplifier.
After trying over two dozen component combinations, and countless hours of listening tests and comparisons, the new Z40+ upgrade improves the tone and texture across all frequencies, and there is more detail and clarity around the performers.
These sonic upgrades are achieved through adding a massive 100,000µF of additional capacitor storage and changing resistors at key points in the audio path to non-magnetic Audio Note Tantalums, each value specifically chosen for their location.
Stereo subwoofer output has also been added. For those who prefer mono subwoofer output, that can be requested at no additional charge.
All new units ship with the Plus+ Upgrades installed. Existing Z40 Integrated amp customers can get all these upgrades via our Z40+ Integrated Amp Upgrade Program.
What’s Included in the New Plus+ Version
100,000µF of additional capacitor storage
Audio Note resistors
Subwoofer Output
Updated Volume Control w/ Adjustable Gain & “Hi-Res” Settings
LTA’s founder, Mark Schneider, provides a detailed look at the Z40+ Integrated amplifier’s ZOTL technology and features.
Plus+ Upgrade Listening Notes from LTA’s Director of Sonic Quality
Yes, that is a real job title - some people have all the luck - and along with a cadre of test listeners, it’s their job to make sure the sound of the Plus+ upgrades keeps the LTA sound our customers love while raising the bar in the right areas.
Whether you are Sunday morning classical, late night jazz, or sweaty rock club listeners, everything comes out sounding sweet and immersive with the Plus+ version. There is tonal sheen, midrange elegance, and startling, controlled dynamics like never before. The Plus+ upgrades reveal more emotion in the music.
We’ve found that with the Plus+ update, listening fatigue is a footnote of the past, no matter the source. Even the most challenging torture tracks become immediately palatable and better yet, unskippable. When pushing to "live sound" decibels, instruments and vocals stay in place and simply get more vivid and real instead of breaking up or becoming shouty (suggesting the listener be more reasonable with the volume control.)
Whatever your preference, you'll find new appreciation for your all time favorites and fall in love with the latest new releases.
Reviews & Testimonials
Resolution-wise, it’s as real as it gets. You could gauge the physical dimensions of the performer. Chest, throat, height, everything. It’s cliche to say, but you get the speed, clarity, and grip of solid-state…and the intimacy of tubes. The music isn’t in your face but more relaxed and smooth.
It has the cleanest sound I’ve ever heard from an integrated amplifier. There’s no exaggeration and you’re not going to be missing anything in the mix. If you upscale your music, you’re going to hear exactly how it was scaled. The Z40 is able to isolate and articulate complex harmonics with ease and confidence.
LTA produces amplification for home use that pushes the boundaries of what transformer-less circuits are capable of. Their products deserve to be appreciated for their intrinsic qualities and not because they should appeal both to both tube and solid-state aficionados. They deserve to be appreciated in their own right by anyone looking to put together a home audio system that is true to the music, persuasively presents music of all types, hypes nothing while shining a positive light on it all. That's all the reason anyone who cares about music and its production through an audio system needs to realize that the Z40 integrated is special.
If you are putting a system together with the expectation that it will serve you well for a long time and across all kinds of music, then the Linear Tube Audio Z40 integrated amplifier is one of only a handful of amplifiers or integrated amplifiers you really must audition.
That Berning-designed power supply was seriously quiet. It wasn’t until I put my ear right up to the soft-dome tweeter of one of the Dynaudios that I heard the slightest bit of noise. When I began streaming music, my first impression was that I was listening to a high-end solid-state amp. The sound was clean, clear, and thoroughly articulate. I would never have guessed that there was a tubed power amplifier -- let alone a tubed preamplifier -- in the signal chain. Fascinating.
Linear Tube Audio’s Z40 tubed integrated is one of the coolest integrated amplifiers I’ve reviewed. Its ZOTL architecture paid real sonic dividends -- the sound was tonally neutral, linear at the extreme high and low ends of the audioband, and boasted a holographic midrange for which some audiophiles search decades without ever finding. Within its modest power envelope it did everything well, and was downright sensational with human voices and intimate instrumental music. The Z40 will no doubt work in a variety of systems and settings. But give it the right partnering loudspeakers and this amp won’t merely play music -- it will sing. That is most uncommon.
Satisfied Customer Hoyt M.
I actually had a three-amp shootout.
- PS Audio BHK - Preamp + 250 Amp — $10.4k and 114 lbs
- PrimaLuna EVO 400 Integrated — $5.6k and 68 lbs
- LTA Z40+ IntegratedTo my ears, in my room, with Tannoy Cheviots, after listening for a week, the EVO finished a distant 3rd. The Z40+ — surprisingly, to me — matched the PSAudio. But there was a little extra magic in the midrange and dynamics [with the Z40]. Hard to put my finger on it, but it’s like this amp was designed specifically for live/acoustical music.
New: Updated Volume Control w/ Adjustable Gain & “Hi-Res” Settings
Now shipping is our new 8-bit volume control, which gives you 128dB of total attenuation via 100 individual steps. We use precision thin film Nichrome resistors with low thermal noise and ceramic circuit boards with low dialectric constant for the highest level of clarity and transparency.
For the ultimate in control, you can activate the “Hi-Res” setting in the menu system, which offers 199 steps to dial in exactly the volume level that works best for you.
We’ve also added the ability to adjust the gain via the menu system. This adjusts the volume level to allow for finer low-level attenuation when using sensitive speakers or headphones. There are three settings: 0db (default), -15db, and -30dB.
Phono Preamp Based on Iconic David Berning Design
The internal phono preamp is based on one of David Berning's classic phono preamps. Instead of tubes, we realized his design using the latest, ultra low noise op-amps. We have updated the amplification stage to a dual mono design and increased the overall headroom and gain to allow for the circuit to be used with both moving magnet and moving coil cartridges without a step-up transformer.
The MM/MC Phono Preamp w/ SUT uses premium Lundahl step up transformers for the highest level of performance with high-end MC cartridges.
David's precise equalization circuit provides a level of tonal accuracy and detail that typically is only experienced in much more expensive products.
All settings (MM/MC, preamp and SUT gain, resistive and capacitive loading) are accessible via the digital menu system to allow you to easily switch between different cartridges or tonearms.
“If you are putting a system together with the expectation that it will serve you well for a long time and across all kinds of music, then the Linear Tube Audio Z40 integrated amplifier is one of only a handful of amplifiers or integrated amplifiers you really must audition.”
Listening room sound. Living room looks.
Integrated with your life
We get it. You want the best sound you can get, but you don’t have the space, or desire, for separate components. With five inputs, LED display, brass touch buttons, home theater mode, and remote control, the Z40 Integrated amplifier gives you world-class sound that fits into your life.
“The most striking feature of the Z40 is its overall balanced and musically persuasive presentation... This balanced and invariably persuasive presentation offers one extraordinary and rare virtue. The LTA is convincing on all forms of music. It is among the most honest amplifiers I have experienced.”
Tube tone + solid state detail
Traditional tube amps are known for their liquidity and linearity, but their “warmth” masks details and can sound thick. Solid state amplifiers give you that detail, but can be “clinical.” ZOTL amplifiers give you the best of both worlds: beautiful tube tone with the clarity of solid state (while being entirely tube-based).
Patented perfection
The Z40+ Integrated amplifier is based on David Berning’s patented ZOTL technology, the only advance in tube technology since the 1950’s. For a technology to be patented, it must be deemed “new, useful, and non-obvious.” We think that sums up our approach quite nicely.
Looks as good as it sounds
The low-resonance aluminum chassis of the Z40+ Integrated is designed in Richmond, Virginia, by the award-winning industrial design crew at Fern & Roby. Brass touch buttons, LED display, and machined aluminum front and rear panels exude quality.
Premium components = premium sound
We use only premium, name-brand components. Belleson regulators. Vishay Dale resistors. Mundorf caps. Typically, these are names you’ll only hear in amps that cost $10k or more.
Never buy another set of tubes
Most tube amplifiers run through tubes every 1,000-2,000 hours. That sounds like a lot until you consider that we estimate tube life for our amps to be in the 10,000 hour range. Why? Because we use ⅓ the current through the tubes, which results in lower heat and dramatically longer tube life.
Made in the USA
Every LTA product is designed and built by hand in Takoma Park, Maryland, by a group of technicians who are also musicians, audiophiles, and music lovers. Some of whom have been with us since the company’s earliest days.
Quality assurance
The Z40+ Integrated amplifier is hand built by technicians with years of experience building the complex ZOTL circuits. All our products are backed by a 3-year warranty and a 14-day in-home audition policy.
Z40 Integrated Amplifier Details
The Z40+ Integrated amplifier offers all the benefits of the output transformer-less ZOTL technology: three times the tube life and one third the heat. With startling realism, plentiful bass, low noise, and gorgeous mids and highs – the Z40+ Integrated amplifier is the perfect package.
The brass touch buttons, headphone outputs, easy-to-read, configurable display, and machined aluminum front and rear panels, exude the high quality manufacturing of handmade products in the USA.
The heart of the Z40+ Integrated is the highly-acclaimed ZOTL40 Reference power amplifier. With the addition of a preamplifier borrowed from Berning’s $30K product, the existing ZOTL circuitry cross-couples to a gain stage, and matches perfectly with the power amplifier.
The amplifier is wrapped in our new control system featuring: 5 inputs (including one XLR input for balanced sources), tape in and out, LED display and input indicators, home theater mode, and remote controlled stepped attenuation using premium Vishay Dale resistors.
The Z40+ Integrated comes equipped with two headphone output jacks: a high output for less sensitive headphones and a low output for very sensitive headphones.
Delivering much higher power than solid state amps with the same power rating, the Z40+ Integrated tube amplifier can drive your 85db and above sensitivity speakers to thundering levels with headroom to spare. Providing everything you need except speakers and a source, in a sleek new case, the Z40+ Integrated is designed to last a lifetime.
Speaker Recommendations
LTA amplifier owners have found great enjoyment using their amps with a variety of speakers outside of the below ranges. The below are guidelines, not rules.
Critical listening environments: 85db sensitivity and above
Smaller rooms / lower volume levels / non-critical listening: 80db sensitivity and above
If you have questions about your specific speakers, chances are someone we know has tried them. Don’t hesitate to reach out with questions about your specific setup. Also, don’t forget we have a 14-day no-questions-asked return policy.
SPECIFICATIONS
Inputs: 4 single-ended Cardas RCA stereo, 1 balanced input using two 3-pin XLRs
Speaker Output: 4 Cardas speaker binding posts
Headphone Outputs: Low: 220mW per channel @ 32 ohms, High: 2.6W per channel @ 32 ohms
Tape Monitor: 1 stereo tape monitor out, 1 stereo tape monitor in
Subwoofer Output: Stereo subwoofer output (Mono option available upon request)
Front Panel Controls: 7 brass touch switches (power, input, tape monitor, up, down, menu/select, back), volume control, and headphone speaker switch
Remote Control: All front panel functions using paired Apple TV Remote
Volume Control: 100 stepped attenuator (smallest step 1/1000th of total value) using Vishay Dale 1% precision resistors
Output impedance: 1.2 ohms
Input impedance: 47k
100V / 120V / 240V operation: Auto-switching
Hum and noise: 94dB below full output (measured at 20Hz-20kHz)
Power output with 4-ohm load: 51W, 0.5% THD
Power output with 8-ohm load: 46W, 0.5% THD
Frequency response (8-ohm load): 6Hz to 60kHz, +0, -.5dB
Amplifier class: Push-pull Class AB
Size: 17 inches wide, 5 1/8 inches tall, 18 inches deep (including connectors)
Net weight: Amplifier: 18 lbs./8.2 kg
Finish: Aluminum case
Tube complement: 2x 12AU7 preamp, 2x 12AX7, 2x 12AU7, 4x KT77
Home Theater Function can select any input for fixed volume
Display: 16 Levels of brightness and programmable 7-second time out
MM/MC Phono Stage: All settings configurable via front-panel digital menu system. See manual for more details.
Inputs: MM or MC
Preamp Gain (MM/MC): 34dB, 42dB, 54dB
SUT Gain (MC only): 20dB, 26dB
Resistive Loading (MC only):
20dB loading options (ohms): 20, 50, 75, 150, 200, 270, 300, 400, 470
26dB loading options (ohms): 20, 40, 50, 75, 90, 100, 120
MM loading: 47K ohms
Capacitive Loading: 100pF, 220pF, 320pF
Custom loading options are available. Please contact us prior to ordering if this is required.
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Our most powerful amp, which can power almost any speaker you throw at it, combined with a Berning-designed preamp and Fern & Roby case.