In Barn for Review: Riviera Audio Laboratories LEVANTE Integrated Amplifier

It’s as if the fine folks from Italy-based Riviera Audio Laboratories were speaking to me when they wrote: An audio amplifier must reproduce a signal with the highest fidelity… for the human ear, not for instruments.

The Riviera Audio Laboratories LEVANTE Integrated Amplifier is a zero feedback hybrid design, employing a pair of ECC81 / 12AT7 dual triodes in the preamplification stage and, for a nice twist on have your cake and Class AB too, you can run the LEVANTE in either Class A mode for 2x 30W into 8 ohms (2x 60W into 4 ohms), or Class AB it offers 2x 120W into 8 ohms (2x 200W into 4 ohms) with the turn of a front panel resident knob. Even in Class AB, the first 6 Watts are in Class A.

A total of five line-level inputs (4x RCA, 1x XLR), a pair of speaker binding posts, power toggle switch, and IEC inlet fill out the LEVANTE’s back panel. An optional built-in MM/MC phono stage is in the works.

The front panel houses a (big) volume control knob, Class selector knob, input selector, 3 buttons (headphone, Night mode, and power), and headphone jack. An included aluminum remote controls volume.

I would like to highlight one spec — Weight: 30 Kg which equals 66 lbs. While 66 lbs is feather weight for a human, pack that into a 19″ wide chassis, and you’re talking dense. The LEVANT comes in the pictured dark titanium version or a lighter gold-highlighted version.

Specifications

Price: $16,500
Class A / Class AB switch
Pure Class A power 2x30W into 8 ohms
Class AB power 2x120W into 8 ohm (2x200W into 4 ohm)
Zero Feedback
Hybrid circuit
1 balanced line input (XLR)
4 unbalanced line inputs (RCA)
Speaker and headphone outputs
Optional phono card
Remote control
Dimensions: 44 x 49 x 19.5h cm.
Weight: 30 Kg.

Company Website: Riviera Audio Laboratories
US Distributor Website: Tone Imports