To answer myself from a previous post, the Cremina's double basket is a couple of mm deeper than the Pavoni's. The Cremina basket has a higher lip than the Pavoni, and although it will fit in the Pavoni handle, the handle can't be locked into the head without forcing it.
On a side note, the machine I got for $400 is in fantastic shape, and actually works pretty well despite 31 year old seals and gaskets. No wearthrough on the chrome ears of the filter handle, zero rust, everything seems to work, I pulled a couple of shots and they were fine. Looks to have been used very lightly.
It has much greater feeling of solidity and quality than the Pavoni-I've had some chrome peeling from the head of the Pavoni, and the 4-bolt head-boiler setup on the Cremina is way more secure than the 2-bolt Pavoni. No base flex on the Cremina either. Wish I would have known about these sooner!
It's got the original manual as well as a Zabar's sheet on use of the machine. All the plasticware-knockbox, funnel, tamper, etc were included, and although I'll never use them they're nice to have.
One weird thing is the serial # label-it lists the voltage as 220, but looks like there might be a 1 stamped over the first 2 of 220. Since it was a Zabar's machine, it had to be set up for US voltage.
Another question for those of you who have the machines-I've been using it with the top and side/back cover removed to check for leaks, etc and noticed there's a bit of seepage at times from the pressure relief valve over the top of the sight glass-is this normal? Does adjusting the screw on the assembly at the base of the boiler-the one that has the tube from the pressure relief valve leading to it-affect this? This adjusting mechanism on my machine is actually a knurled knob with a ± arrow indicator on it, which is different from some of the photos I've seen posted here and also different from the 67 tech diagram on the Oly website, both of which show a brass slot head screw.
I've got a complete seal set as well as an extra double basket on the way from Suisse, so replacement of all things organic will be done when I get it. No need to rechrome, that and the SS just needs cleaning and polishing. I'll probably become a Cremina clone and powdercoat the paintwork, and possibly get some of the Thor woodwork as well, if it's not too expensive.
So far, very happy with the machine.
Rod
