redpig wrote: If you let the group fill with water then ease the lever up until the spring pressure begins to apply, then hold it there it should create a higher preinfusion pressure with a slightly decreasing profile as the puck saturates. It's not the more constant(?) preinfusion pressure profile a strega+dimmer-mod would provide, but effective.

Once you lift the lever off the switch the Strega pump is out of the equation. You can hold the lever in the dead space between pump switch on & spring engagement letting the puck preinfuse at group pressure or slowly enter the spring phase and force the P/I a bit. When I'm using a 2-3 bar pump setting I normally just run the pump long enough to fill the group, lift the lever slightly & let it preinfuse naturally for several seconds or longer before engaging the spring.