[Ratephi]

Have any of you experimented much driving bookshelf speakers with your Riviera? Do you think it would be able to drive KEF LS50 Meta’s to reasonable levels?

I'm also driving a pair of bookshelf speakers with my AIC-10 and get excellent results. It's a pair of relatively old Diapason Adamantes III. They have good sensitivity (91dB), which certainly helps, yet I must say that each time I'm impressed beyond expectations by how good this combo sounds and by the ease of the Riviera in driving these speakers. Volume knob never beyond 12 o'clock. Most of the times, somewhere around 10.30 is more than enough to make it loud - sometimes just too loud - despite the size of the room (I sit 3 meters away from the speakers and there are 3 meters between the two speakers, plus 1.5 meter between each speaker and both the side and back walls).

I listen to a lot of jazz and classical music, including many orchestral pieces and, lately, quite a bit of choral music as well. And I'm always impressed by the realism of the musical scene produced by this setup. I've always loved the depth ad width of the soundstage offered by the the Diapasons. In my view, the Riviera amplifies this character of the speakers very prominently and produces a soundstage which - to my hear - sounds just immense, all the more when I compare what I get with the Riviera to the results I obtained with the few amplifiers I've owned and used to drive the Diapasons with, in the past.

The ability to drive effectively - and "magically" - not only all my headphones but also medium and high sensitivity speakers convinced me to pull the trigger on the Riviera, after a long period of hesitation, given the non immaterial cost of this toy...

For the record, while I do love the Riviera with the Diapasons, nothing beats the pairing of this amp with my beloved Abyss 1266 TC... But guess that has to do a lot also with my general preference for the pleasures of headphones vs speakers listening.

 

[spotforscott]

Have any of you found footers that improve the sound of the AIC-10 when listening to headphones, not speakers?

 

[silkytoad]

I'm also driving a pair of bookshelf speakers with my AIC-10 and get excellent results. It's a pair of relatively old Diapason Adamantes III. They have good sensitivity (91dB), which certainly helps, yet I must say that each time I'm impressed beyond expectations by how good this combo sounds and by the ease of the Riviera in driving these speakers. Volume knob never beyond 12 o'clock. Most of the times, somewhere around 10.30 is more than enough to make it loud - sometimes just too loud - despite the size of the room (I sit 3 meters away from the speakers and there are 3 meters between the two speakers, plus 1.5 meter between each speaker and both the side and back walls).

I listen to a lot of jazz and classical music, including many orchestral pieces and, lately, quite a bit of choral music as well. And I'm always impressed by the realism of the musical scene produced by this setup. I've always loved the depth ad width of the soundstage offered by the the Diapasons. In my view, the Riviera amplifies this character of the speakers very prominently and produces a soundstage which - to my hear - sounds just immense, all the more when I compare what I get with the Riviera to the results I obtained with the few amplifiers I've owned and used to drive the Diapasons with, in the past.

The ability to drive effectively - and "magically" - not only all my headphones but also medium and high sensitivity speakers convinced me to pull the trigger on the Riviera, after a long period of hesitation, given the non immaterial cost of this toy...

For the record, while I do love the Riviera with the Diapasons, nothing beats the pairing of this amp with my beloved Abyss 1266 TC... But guess that has to do a lot also with my general preference for the pleasures of headphones vs speakers listening.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience, I would love to test the pairing of an MDave + Riviera + Klipsch (either Cornwalls or La Scalas). Unfortunately I have no way of testing the system , so will probably have to save up and eventually make a blind purchase !

 

[silkytoad]

So my setup is: Audioquest Niagara 3000, Auralic Aries G2.1, MScaler, DAVE, Riviera AFC-10 (no volume knob), Abyss 1266 TC. I was using a Brimar tube on the Riviera which to my ears made the 1266 sound excellent. I did start noticing some slight "pops" on my right ear, and when I put the music on pause could hear some noise in the same ear. Some low volume (but discernible) hiss with some pops every now and then and "electrical sounding noise" but only on my right ear. If I went to the HP-Low the noise did diminish a little bit, but was still there. I disconnected the audio inputs from the amp and could still hear the noise, nothing changed. I plugged the amp to the Niagara and straight to the wall, still no change. I tested with banana adapters to the speakers out and I could still hear it (and just a tad more noise on both ears). When listening to music, the music sounds amazing but I can hear that noise and those pops, especially during the quieter parts of the music. I know most of you have experience with the AIC rather than the AFC but any ideas on what could be happening? I'm located in the US and its not easy to send the amp to italy to get it checked, especially with covid. Any suggestions?

 

[onlychild]

So my setup is: Audioquest Niagara 3000, Auralic Aries G2.1, MScaler, DAVE, Riviera AFC-10 (no volume knob), Abyss 1266 TC. I was using a Brimar tube on the Riviera which to my ears made the 1266 sound excellent. I did start noticing some slight "pops" on my right ear, and when I put the music on pause could hear some noise in the same ear. Some low volume (but discernible) hiss with some pops every now and then and "electrical sounding noise" but only on my right ear. If I went to the HP-Low the noise did diminish a little bit, but was still there. I disconnected the audio inputs from the amp and could still hear the noise, nothing changed. I plugged the amp to the Niagara and straight to the wall, still no change. I tested with banana adapters to the speakers out and I could still hear it (and just a tad more noise on both ears). When listening to music, the music sounds amazing but I can hear that noise and those pops, especially during the quieter parts of the music. I know most of you have experience with the AIC rather than the AFC but any ideas on what could be happening? I'm located in the US and its not easy to send the amp to italy to get it checked, especially with covid. Any suggestions?

Did you try a different tube?

 

[silkytoad]

Did you try a different tube?

I think I narrowed it down to the tube being the issue. I thought I had tested two brimars but I think I mixed them up and tested the same one twice . Anyways, I tried other tubes and the problem got fixed. I’m so happy it was only that, I was getting very worried it could be some other thing!

 

[F208Frank]

What power cords do you guys prefer using on the AIC-10?

 

[simorag]

What power cords do you guys prefer using on the AIC-10?

Hi Frank, I am using an Audioquest Hurricane HC power cord. I have tried just a couple of other ones (Shunyata Alpha HC and Audioquest NRG-1000) and I like the bold and thick sound the Hurricane provides.
When I met Luca Chiomenti (the Riviera designer), he let me try one of his exotic power cables, and I must admit it was even better than my Hurricane, especially in terms of detail retrieval and harmonics subtleties.

On another subject, over the last weekend I spent several hours by listening to some quite variegated acoustic, mainly vocal music with the AIC-10 driving the RAAL SR1a.

I applied my usual EQ curve to the SR1a to bring up some more meat in the bass region, gently starting from 100Hz down, and set the volume at my 'perceived normal' (75-80dB) listening level.

I must say that it has been a very enjoyable musical journey, and I never had the impression of the AIC-10 restraining the sound coming from the SR1a. Actually it was the opposite, with an effortless presentation of all my musical programme.

Dino Saluzzi bandoneon was in my lap with all its tactility, and so was the Julian Bream classical guitar, with its typical full and warm timbre.

Several hours went by in tranquil amazement, as I moved to some jazz and vocal music.

The SR1a can do something special with vocals, especially in terms of palpability. Verny's presence was phenomenal, almost sculpted in 3D, uncluttered by any form of veil, so were the soloists and choir of the eclectic Golijov Pasiòn, adding up to a sense of realism that no other headphone I have tried can provide in the vocal range.

In terms of tonality, the AIC-10 equipped with a NOS Mullard tube is a fantastic match for the SR1a, providing a very welcome touch of lushness, and fullness, to the midrange, and a smooth treble, what a pairing!

I wonder what the new Rivera Levante amp (based on the same design principles of the AIC-10), with its 30W in Class A or 120W in Class AB can do with the SR1a... I hope I will be able to try it at home one day

 

[BPED]

What power cords do you guys prefer using on the AIC-10?

Hi Frank, I hope you are enjoying your amp… I use a Horus power cord manufactured by Wires4Music, a Spanish company. Very nice cable, I didn’t make comparison with the Riviera but from previous tests with the Dave I noticed it adds a bit of fullness and bottom end to the music.

 

[onlychild]

What power cords do you guys prefer using on the AIC-10?

Sablon King - I use one to power my server as well. Really great for power hungry equipment.

 

[Ratephi]

I'm using a Kaptovator from JPS Labs. To be honest, I've never had the chance to test many different cables with the Riveira (and most of the time, when that happened, it was not in my own chain). Beyond the Kaptovator, I remember testing a high-end cable from Furutech (not sure what the model designation was), the entry level of JPS Labs (the PAC Lite - which I also own) as well as a couple of Audioquests. One was the Hurricane, I can't recall the model designation of the other..

Out of the few I had the chance to try, the Kaptovator was the one that offered results closer to the type of sound I like - which is typically on the leaner, more "airy" side, at a price tag that was still somehow "palatable"...

The Audioquests were tested in a chain that was too different from mine - except for the Riviera - for me to express any meaningful, non-biased impression.

I remember not being blown away by the Furutech which, to my ear, was significantly less detailed and warmer than the Kaptovator.

The sound signature of the PAC Lite is also significantly different from that of the the Kaptovator. Bolder but less detailed for sure, although the loss of detail is not as apparent as with the Furutech.

 

[silkytoad]

Uh oh, something terrible happened. I tried to run a pair of tabletop speakers through my Riviera and no sound would come out. I te-checked the connections and apparently the spades on the right side of speakers touched making a short. I lost all audio from the right side, I am really hoping I didn’t fry the amp. Does anyone know if these have fuses or any sort of protection for that?

 

[silkytoad]

Uh oh, something terrible happened. I tried to run a pair of tabletop speakers through my Riviera and no sound would come out. I te-checked the connections and apparently the spades on the right side of speakers touched making a short. I lost all audio from the right side, I am really hoping I didn’t fry the amp. Does anyone know if these have fuses or any sort of protection for that?

So I opened up the amp, and found that theres 2 fuses on each side close to the heat dissipation. Not surprisingly, two fuses on one side appear to have burned. I will order some new ones and pray for that to be the only damage done!

 

[fredfung28]

After long time of listening with B749, I suddenly wants to try back those tubes that I bought in the past.

 

[biscottino]

After long time of listening with B749, I suddenly wants to try back those tubes that I bought in the past.

Oh my God, what a tube!