gj91 wrote:I like the Vivaldi II but I am hung up on the fact that it doesn't have a E61 Grouphead, not even a fake E61.

Why are you so hung-up on a brew head design from the 60s? Are you starting a E-61 museum? There are plenty of other good designs out there.

gj91 wrote:One thing that I can't figure out, is the Vivaldi II a PID machine like the Alex Duetto II or is it just a controllable machine.

Not a PID. Just on/off logic through a controller board. It cycles the boiler on/off at longer intervals than a PID. If you can taste the difference a full-blown PID would make, I'd be very impressed.

gj91 wrote:I too am thinking long and hard on my upgrade.

Yes, you certainly are . . .

gj91 wrote:I like the Vivaldi II but I am hung up on the fact that it doesn't have a E61 Grouphead, not even a fake E61.

Why is that important? Is it a good design? Yes. Is it the only design? No. Not by a long shot. After all, there is more than one way to skin a cat pull an outstanding shot!

gj91 wrote:So that led me to start looking at the Vibiemme machines. But then I go back to the Vivaldi II is an automatic and not a lever.

I don't understand. There are several different Vibiemme models that are automatics, like the Spaziale VII.

I looked again and I do see an Vibiemme automatic version.

Here is one in chrome at Stefano's (he also has it in black)

http://espressocare.com/Qstore/Qstore.c ... +Stainless

Hello there!

Looking for a double boiler machine, I had the opportunity to test a Vivaldi Mini (old version, not II) and Dalla Corte Mini, side by side... Well, these are the only options I have here, and the Dalla Corte is a kind of an opportunity - no distributors here.

We used a Scace device to test the temperature. Both machines are good at intra-shot temps. But the Vivaldi is very slow to reach the desirable temp, besides not consistent at the offset (for instance, 107°C result in 100°C, 103°C result in 97°C, and 95°C result in 90°C). We couldn't find a setting to get water temp around 92°C, for instance... The Dalla Corte seems to be faster and more precise, repeatable.

My question is: does the new Vivaldi controller do a better job? It seems to be less PITA to set (1°C increments and probably the same routine that the old version to set 0,5°C differences) and has a offset, so I wonder if they have improved the performance of the temperature controller...

I wonder if it's possible to use, on a Vivaldi II, a scace and define the offset, to really get consistency on the temperature... For me, the old version seems to be very weak at this... I know this machine has a huge group of fans, but maybe the majority uses the version II!

Thanks!

Márcio.

This should answer your question

La Spaziale Vivaldi II - Getting Started

FYI, the automatic VBM's are HX's and not DB's.

Mark, isn't this a Vibiemme DB with volumetric dosing (i.e.: automatic)?

DOH! Didn't know that guy existed! Sweet!

I just originally noticed the linked machine was the older HX model (especially when Black was brought up).

-Mark