I'm currently testing out a Rancilio Silvia with PID before I decide if it's the right machine for me. I've been searching and reading as much as I can, but the sheer volume of discussion on this machine makes it difficult to find an answer to my particular issue. Here's the basic situation:

• I learned how to dial in the grind on a beautiful volumetric Aurelia II, then applied the same techniques at home with our volumetric Breville. Timing my shots, I found that 22 seconds was the sweet spot for our particular machine, producing the most consistent quality shots. The Breville was set to 2 ounces per double shot.

• Looking to upgrade, a friend let me test out her Silvia, and now I am trying to deal with the PID and programmed shot time, instead of volume. Right out of the box, it was set to 25 seconds and the grind setting that produced 2 ounces in 22 seconds on the Breville gave a greatly over-extracted 4 ounces.

My approach, after reading many threads here, is to weigh the coffee first, make sure I'm dosing exactly the same amount. Then using the output volume to dial in the grind, adjusting it up or down until I'm getting the correct amount of coffee in the desired shot time.

I'm open to any suggestions, and would love to hear from anyone who has been through a similar situation. Part of me just wants to say "no thank" to the Silvia and opt for a volumetric machine, simply because I'm already comfortable with it. But I don't want to do that without giving it a fair shot, based on the long history of positive reviews.