The Vivia Solista is a single-ended Class A integrated amplifier that relies on 845 triodes to produce its 22 Watts of output power.
The Solista sports 4 single ended inputs (1x XLR, 3x RCA), 1 Direct input which bypasses the active preamp stage, what I assume are “S” Sub Outputs (1x XLR, 1x RCA), and a single pair of speaker binding posts.
Down in vacuum tube valley (wink), I’m a big fan of Viva’s “V” shaped chassis, we find (from right which is how the incoming signal flows) pairs of 6C45i triodes and 6SN7GTs, that latter driving the aforementioned big, bad, directly heated 845s.
There is no, as is zero, negative feedback employed in the point-to-point wired Solista.
Viva, the company, was founded in Vicenza, Italy in 1996 and I don’t recall exactly when or where it was I first saw and heard one of their amplifiers but I remember thinking, “I’d love to get one of those home (it was long before the Barn).” And as is the case with most classic hifi, I read, and re-read Art Dudley’s review of the original Solista from 2005 in the pages of Stereophile, which made me even more eager to hear one.
And here we are.
Viva Solista Integrated Amplifier
Price: $24,500
Company Website: Viva Audio
US Distributor Website: High End by Oz
Specifications
Dimensions (W x H x D): 430 x 250 x 520 mm
Weight: 35 kg
Single-ended integrated amplifier
Triode tubes
Tube Complement: 2x 6C45Pi, 2x 6SN7GT, 4x 845
Zero negative feedback pure class A operation
Real point to point circuitry
Four inputs, one direct input
Palladium plated proprietary solid copper binding posts
