U-Turn Audio was established in 2012 by three friends from Lexington High School,[1] Benjamin Carter, Robert Hertig, and Peter Maltzan.

They raised money to start the company by participating in a business incubator program at Northeastern University, and they successfully completed a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign[2] to build the first Orbit turntable prototype and begin manufacturing operations.

[7] In 2019, U-Turn introduced a new Orbit plinth color, purple, which the company stated would be available only for a limited time, but it has remained part of the regular product line ever since.

[7] The Orbit Special turntable gained an additional plinth choice that year: birch plywood with maple wood veneer.

[8] All U-Turn Audio products are manufactured and assembled by hand at the company's factory in Woburn, Massachusetts[9][10] and come with a three year warranty against defects in materials and workmanship.