Hi!

I am looking to upgrade from a 10YO Silvia (no mods) and have narrowed my search down to the A53 (reservoir) and the Profitec Pro 600. Typical home use of 2-5 latte-type drinks a day, occasional straight shots. Stylistically, my local is Espresso Vivace in Seattle

Any / all recommendations and advice are welcome

Great H20 capacity on the A53 and I liked the preinfusion add on. Ultimately I starting wondering about a PID and the lack of accessories for a 53mm PF was annoying at the time. Having moved on and looking back, I would not hesitate again on A53 for the looks and function.

Extremely happy with my Profitec 600. My gauge of a good purchase is how satisfied I am using it and how often do I use it. In this case I look forward to using it every day and since adding a Kafatek Flat grinder almost all urges to upgrade are gone. I don't have the headroom for a lever and the appeal of the DE1 is lessening as I'm not sure how much better my coffee can be. Would buy again without hesitation.

I have the La Spaziale Mini Vivaldi II (basically the same as the Lucca) which I have had for a little over a year now and love it. It a solid machine and makes wonderful espresso, and has powerful steaming capability.

I had also considered the Profitec 600, and don't think you can go wrong with either machine. One of the primary reasons I decided on the La Spaziale was the convenience of the reservoir. I have it under kitchen cabinets, and the reservoir simply slides out from the front to fill.

The other thing that pushed me over the edge was that I was able to get an unused floor model for a significant savings.

As Dpk mentioned, the 53mm portafilter is slightly annoying, but I have not had any issues finding the accessories I wanted.

It made a damn good espresso. The 53mm with preinfusikn may have made pulling shots more forgiving.

At the time I wanted certain distribution tools, funnels etc and they weren't as common. If wdt was as pre slant then I would have kept it.

Happy 600 owner chiming in with my biased vote for profitec. Sorry I don't have any insight to the A53 but 53mm portafilter would be a deal breaker for me.

I was in the same place a few weeks ago and decided on the profitec. What swung the decision for me in favor of the profitec was
1) Looks - this is of course very subjective, but I felt that the profitec looked like a $2000 machine
2) Build quality
3) Espresso quality. This was based on conversations with multiple retailers including clive-coffee and chris-coffee. The general consensus was that an E61 with a PID would give you better espresso.
4) Possibility of a flow control device in the future If I felt I needed the additional control.

Aspects of the Lucca that were very attractive to me were,
1) the 7day timer module which would allow me to not have to deal with a smart plug
2) Better access to the water reservoir
3) Steam quality. La Spaziale's are supposed to generate very dry steam, though I feel that the profitec with its 2bar pressure is just as good. Havent done any side by side tests, so this is just conjecture

During my initial analysis, portafilter size (58 vs 53) was not a big deal. But in retrospect, I am glad that I have the profitec. Buying accessories like a funnel, auto-leveling tamper and basket are so much easier with the 58mm standard.

ashwin wrote: Espresso quality. This was based on conversations with multiple retailers including clive-coffee and chris-coffee. The general consensus was that an E61 with a PID would give you better espresso.

I find this difficult to believe. I would have thought the saturated group of the A53 would have better temperature stability and hence better espresso quality than an E61 machine. Did the dealers give you any technical explanation of why they thought E61 was better?

Without a blind test, this is going to be impossible to corroborate, but the pro600 is a dual boiler with a PID. So I dont think either machine has any temp stability issues.

Do not forget the volumetric dosing with the Lucca, real treat from workflow perspective. Another thing, at least the La Spaziale has a full commercial certification, very rare for 1 group machines. Not sure about the Lucca but is practically the same from components point of view.