Sales director Davey Smalley is joined on the board by Ben Ver (engineering) Paul Williams (R&D) and Pip Wilson (production). For over a decade, Ver and Williams have been responsible for a number of innovations in the power amplifier, DSP and audio networking fields, with Wilson bringing over 20 years' experience in manufacturing and quality control. Smalley, formerly sales manager at BSS Audio, explains the philosophy: "Our potency lies with integrating the key technologies of the future, initially focused towards high power amplifier modules for integration within OEM loudspeakers," he says. "Consequently we're concentrating on switching power supplies, PWM amplifiers, DSP and networking."
With these four important technologies, Smalley believes that Linea is well placed to provide flexible solutions to the industry. "We're not fixed in product strategy or routes to market - rather we are combining our design experience with these modern technologies to create the building blocks from which a range of complete of solutions will flow."
Linea's X-Pod series of loudspeaker power modules have already been adopted, not only by several well-known pro audio manufacturers but also high-end monitor and hi-fi companies. "We're working on variants to suit a broad spectrum of cabinet design," explains Smalley. "Our technology makes sense for loudspeaker manufacturers who see the possibilities of enhancing their efforts with the expertise of our R&D team; we can create solutions with them."
The X-Pod family provides an elegant and powerful set of tools for activating loudspeakers. For example, the X-Pod 2500 DSP provides two channels of high efficiency PWM amplification integrated with a one input, two output 96kHz DSP, all powered from a universal mains input switching power supply. Minimal dimensions combined with advanced thermal design make convection cooling an option and precise DSP configuration with comprehensive monitoring is enabled by Linea's Podware application. Achieving class leading audio quality at up to 1,250W per channel, the X-Pod project embodies the beautiful engineering the team aspires to, says Smalley.
Linea's belief that networking is the future of powered speaker systems has resulted in another technology building block, its rigorously designed ObCom protocol. Paul Williams explains: "We are in the privileged position of being able to focus on what's required for 21st century system control without having to consider legacy systems. The result is ObCom, a versatile Object Oriented messaging technology that underlies all our products. It is suitable for local control of one unit or configuration and monitoring of hundreds of devices spread across numerous sites and connected via the Internet. ObCom is the fabric that binds the various parts of a system into one integrated whole, providing seamless connectivity within products, between devices, and across networks."
(Lee Baldock)
