We've actually moved for a job to south central PA. I had looked a ton while we were in Portland, but you are obviously right, going with her would have been a pretty nice move. I spent a lot of afternoons tooling around in the clive coffee showroom.

We talked again last night and it sounds like she just really wanted the pavoni. Dr Gary had a bunch of great pointers when I bought it (it was kind of beat up), and I ended up restoring it and selling it. I just couldnt get the group to not be tilted off to the left, every time I tightened the bolts, the lean would come back, and coffee preferred to exit from one side of the portafilter. Im now on the lookout for a version 2 something restored by Francesco, but until that happens, I'll start with another machine.

Going from the old world pavoni with its charm to the breville was just a let down, which I get, and I dont think she understood why I sold the pavoni in the first place. With that in mind, her disappointment makes a lot more sense.

Ive enjoyed everyones responses, and I also want to say that Dick is very lucky, but I also dont think its unfair for a significant other to have feedback or input into a hobby, especially one that exists in a shared space like a kitchen. My hope is that its something we enjoy together.

EDIT: Ive changed my profile location

I've been married 46 years, so I know well the joys & challenges of making choices together! If you both loved the LP and both want mechanical beauty, why not a new LP? They're the same price as a BDB. And despite the compromises made for modernity in materials etc, a brand new one is a fine machine with which you can make wonderful espresso. There's even a cool dealer in Philly called Fante's in the Italian Market with stock.

I think Im hung up on the teflon sleeve and the idea that the millenium versions really dont hold a candle to the pre-millenium ones. Which leads me to searching around for old pavonis.

I'll hunt on ebay, but most of them seem pretty banged up, and just too much of a gamble for me. Most restored ones seem to be 220 as well, and the cost to swap out the 220 for 110 often seems to be half or two thirds of the cost of the unit.

Finally, I wanted to get something with more temperature precision than the pavoni. I understand with temperature strips and other techniques you can get into the zen zone as Dr Gary calls it, but I was going to try and skip all that with a more temperature stable machine if possible.

kenyabob wrote:...I also dont think its unfair for a significant other to have feedback or input into a hobby, especially one that exists in a shared space like a kitchen.

I didn't mean to imply that every significant other should have the same viewpoint as mine. Plus, I didn't mention that I do virtually all of the cooking and food shopping in our house (another reason my wife is so kind to me), and thus the kitchen is somewhat more my domain design-wise.

OT:

BaristaBoy E61 wrote:You must have a massive 40-meter beam on top of that 110-ft tower!

Yeah. It's a Cal-Av full-size 2-el beam with max element size about 75-feet (!). Boom is only about 16 feet, but it's built like a tank and weights about 165 lbs. The antenna is incredibly well-balanced but it was quite a job for me to wrestle it onto the mast after tramming to the top, not that mounting each of the three 100+ lb 4-el SteppIRs on Tic rings at 34'/64'/96' feet was much easier. I've done all the climbing to build the tower and mount the antennas, and I'm not a very big or muscular guy. Had one helper on the ground running an electric winch to lift the heavy hardware. Also have three other tubular towers/masts (72', 48', 48') with single beams/rotators hidden around the property, plus a 40m 4-square, an 80m delta loop in the trees @90', an 80/160 trapped inverted vee @90' on the big tower, a 6-el 10m beam at the top of the mast (115') on the big tower, a Hustler 2m vertical above that for APRS, and a 580' dual-direction Beverage. As you might guess, my main focus is contesting.

Love your Vibroplex avatar. Have a small collection of CW paddles here: Profi Sure, Begali Sculpture, Begali Stealth and original N2DAN. The latter is my favorite.

It's take 21 years to collect equipment to build my radio station, 9 years for the espresso bar and nearly 40 years for the audio system. Given all that, one could easily conclude that I'm certifiable . Now you really know how understanding my wife is!

drgary wrote:If you get a 2nd gen please consider the heat control mod that converts the group to being water heated.

Is this a necessary & appropriate mod for a new Europiccola as well, Gary? I've been working on a startup business & haven't had time to consider finding & restoring an old LP. But I see a few current ones available for very nice prices & am tempted to just jump into the 21st century at the deep end

kenyabob wrote:Most restored ones seem to be 220 as well, and the cost to swap out the 220 for 110 often seems to be half or two thirds of the cost of the unit.

I can't speak for others, but I have found that the purchase of a 2000 VA 110/220v converter was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Changing out the element is too expensive for common machines and just silly for rare ones. Now that I own it, I didn't give a second thought to the purchase of a 220v Conti Comocafe. I might not have had the life expectancy required to wait for one in 110v to become available.

I'm now eagerly anticipating a good deal on an Olympia Cremina in 220v.

I had consider a transformer as well; on the facebook user group a guy named max doesnt seem very solid restorations as well, of far less vintage machines, but lots of pre-millenniums.

The Elektra micro casa, for whatever reason, doesnt have the same impact for me as the pavoni, even though I know its a solid machine. Second in my mind is the Ponte Vecchio. No idea if their modern counterparts as less desirable than the vintage machines.

Ive found locally someone selling an ECM Classika for a very nice price. Since it'll be mainly espresso, I think Ill start there since it'll be temperature stable, able to pull lots of morning shots and have a nice classic look with the E61 group. I'll keep waiting for the perfect chrome Pavoni.

@drgary - I did the pavoni for sale in the forum, and it looks great. Ive seen other version 1s before, and I know that on some of francescos builds he replaces the built in screen with a removable one. However, how do you replace the gaskets in the group if the head is screwed in for the early version 1's? Is that a silly question, do you just unscrew it?