![]() ![]() Each of the six drivers is driven by its own amp, for a total power output of 200W. The Festival’s three 0.75” tweeters and three 4” woofer drivers are mounted on and braced by an enclosure of solid wood, and its four 4” passive radiators - two each on front and rear - augment the bass output and reduce vibration. Along with the Festival’s wireless options, its rear panel provides optical digital, 3.5mm analog stereo, and USB Type-A connections.įor $499, the build quality is impressive. There are surface-gripping rubber pads on the speaker’s bottom, and rubber buttons on the top let you control playback, switch inputs, and adjust volume. Available in black or white, its cabinet is wrapped in a metal grille, with top and bottom plates of molded plastic. The Festival may look like a Sonos clone, but its appearance is nice enough. ![]() The Festival’s DAC supports files of up to 24-bit/192kHz resolution, and the speaker can be controlled with both Google Home and Riva’s own Wand app, a combination that lets you easily configure speaker groups for multiroom audio, as well as for stereo playback using a matched pair of Riva Audio speakers. In other words, Riva has made it easy for anyone to wirelessly stream anything to its speakers from any device. On the convenience side, the Festival’s wide-ranging connectivity options include Apple AirPlay, Chromecast built-in, Wi-Fi, DLNA, Spotify Connect, and Bluetooth. According to Riva, the result is the creation of “virtual left and right speakers outside the enclosure,” along with “a wider listening area with a locked center location.” To achieve that goal, the Riva team developed Trillium, in which digital signal processing (DSP) is used to filter two-channel audio signals and upmix them to three channels for reproduction by three identical sets of drivers positioned on the speaker’s front, left, and right sides. What differentiates Riva’s products from similar offerings is Farr’s stated determination to deliver the experience of hearing live music in all its dynamic, uncompressed glory, via compact, affordable speakers that also provide the convenience features that today’s listeners demand. This California-based outfit has a personality behind it - that of Rikki Farr, a British music promoter and manager who gained fame as the ranting MC of the 1970 Isle of Wight festival, a notoriously off-the-hook event that nonetheless hosted an eclectic roster of artists ranging from Leonard Cohen and Miles Davis to Jimi Hendrix and the Who.įarr’s trajectory led him to the world of consumer-electronics manufacturing, and eventually to the founding of Riva, which makes the Festival ($499 USD) and Arena ($249) Wi-Fi speakers. That generalization doesn’t apply to Riva Audio. Most all-in-one speakers are produced by generic audio companies looking to take a slice from the Sonos pie. ![]()
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