I've been waiting since April for this day. The UPS tracking page says "OUT FOR DELIVERY." Last I heard from Chris Coffee was that 35 people were on the pre-order list. How many of you are watching the forums here?

This machine will replace the Krups that I had since March. So I am definitely in over my head for a few weeks/months. But my wife is just as excited as I am about this, so I'll get to make twice as many shots as I drink. My plan is to let her learn the milk steaming and latte art so that she can eventually teach me.

congrats,
from a Krups to a Alex Duetto II, now THAT'S what I call and UPGRADE...
(you have the grinder already.. right!)

enjoy it...

PS,
my wife is big time spoiled.. every afternoon she don't ask, she DEMAND me to make her a cappuccino.. :/
you lucky man..

Yeah, got the Mini when I preordered the Duetto. I could not have been more surprised by the quantum leap in our espresso quality when the Mazzer came in. I had been getting the local roaster to put a 1/2 pound through the bulk grinder every few days. With that set up I though the machine was the problem, but with the new grinder I got some enjoyable drinks out of that Krups with a ( dremeled ) de-pressurized filter basket. I hope that the move to the Duetto is a similar jump in quality.

WOW nice upgrade. I have the vetrano and the duetto is my next step. Please let us know how you make out with your new machine. I have been looking at the duetto for awhile now and would like to know your impressions once you get the hang of it.

congrats, I have a feeling you will be well caffeinated this afternoon and into the evening. What coffee do you have on hand for the special occasion?

It's FINALLY here! Definitely worth giving up a third of our kitchen counter space. It seems like it shipped well, right out of the box everything was well put together. Unfortunately, the stickers above the steamers were peeling and the Alex badge was put on crooked and was falling off. One of the three rubber protectors under the cup warming plate was not on, so it fell against the wiring harness. When we tried to get it, it fell under a boiler and we had to take off the bottom plate to retrieve it. But, we're frantically waiting for Mr. Alex to warm up, and we've got a grinder full of Chris Coffee's Black Pearl Espresso ready to go.

Keep you posted...

I want to hear details! Mine shipped today, so I should have it on Friday!

When my original Duetto arrived, I got it out of the shipping box, unpacked everything, took all the protective film off, installed the loose parts, filled the reservoir, went to plug it in, and... discovered it was a 20 amp model, when I'd ordered a 15 amp. I don't even have a 20 amp outlet

It took me two weeks to get a replacement, because I had to ship the original one back before they'd send out a new one. Now THAT was a long wait.

All you new Duetto II owners are in for a treat. I am very jealous of the new features, and wish some of them had been included in the original model. The steam boiler PID isn't such a huge deal since I only have it turned on for half an hour every day. I am interested in making the heat dissipation modifications to my Duetto, as well as replacing the tacky original feet with the new ones, though.

Krups<ALEX DUETTO.
You don't mess around.

Yeah, the Krups was kind of an accident. We were walking through Burlington Coat Factory when I spotted the XP4030 for $50. After seeing the price on Amazon and reading the reviews I decided that it was a deal I couldn't pass up. It wasn't long before I found CoffeeGeek and this site and caught my first case of upgradeitis. I thought for a long time that I was sold on a Silvia, but knowing my predisposition to want to upgrade I decided it was best to overshoot. So I went with the Mini and Alex Duetto. If I could do it over again I would have gone a step up on the grinder and gotten the Super Jolly, but it will be a very long time before I think about upgrading.

I am loving the Duetto! I was expecting to have more trouble getting great shots out of it, but once I got used to the size of the new portafilter/tamper I got some nice looking naked extractions (using WDT). That brings up a question I wanted to ask of everyone. I was having a hard time getting a level tamp with the new equipment so I started holding the portafilter in the air at chest height and tamping with my other hand. The tamps have been level and I can repeat them well enough for now. Is this a bad habit? I know that some baristas are trained to use the edge of the bar and turn their palm out with the elbow right over the portafilter. Is it worth learning the "correct" way?