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ECM Veneziano A1 Your Thoughts and Recommendations

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  • #16
    Re: ECM Veneziano A1 Your Thoughts and Recommendat

    AlMac

    How is your new machine

    i have read up on them some time ago, dual boiler so nice, but no steam and brewing at the same time which seems the only negative.

    Did you buy new, ? uses .... good price ??

    Like to hear your thoughts on the machine ?

    cheers

    marc

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: ECM Veneziano A1 Your Thoughts and Recommendat

      Well a very pleasurable visit to Pinot aka. John Doyle and his lovely wife today has seen me return home with a very nice piece of machinery......but not before a lesson on the do’s and don’ts and the care of the A1 (which was very important to me)

      15-20mins later after filling the tank and allowing it to heat up, I was enjoying a very very nice espresso.

      Sweeter.............................YES
      Quality of brew Better.........YES
      Ease of cleaning.................Not too bad
      Quality..............................I am biased... But, YES it’s great
      Satisfaction........................Immense

      All in all I consider myself to be very fortunate to have a wife that has allowed me to have such a great machine; BTW she got the first brew after the seasoning in. she was happy.

      Many thanks John for this, there’s not much I can really add.

      And the Book........."BARISTA TECHNIQUES by John Doyle" Ladies and Gentlemen this is an investment in Common Sense and with this you WILL gain more knowledge and become better at what you do. John the book is very good and very practical, and very easy to understand. Well Done.

      FB

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: ECM Veneziano A1 Your Thoughts and Recommendat

        Originally posted by marc link=1121947091/15#15 date=1122810373
        AlMac

        How is your new machine

        i have read up on them some time ago,    dual boiler so nice,   but no steam and brewing at the same time which seems the only negative.

        Did you buy new, ? uses .... good price ??

        Like to hear your thoughts on the machine ?

        cheers

        marc
        Marc - Reneka is breaking in a new boiler manufacturer for the Techno at the moment so I am still waiting to order.

        I decided that brew and steam at the same time is not an issue for me and Id prefer all efforts to go into temp stability anyway - a small sacrifice.

        I dont think there is a used market in Australia. My rough calculation is that the total cost landed and in Australia would be around $3,300 - which when compared with Veneziano A1 ($4,300) and Cimbali Junior D1 ($3,900) is very good. Conceptually they are different machines but I think the comparison is a reasonable one. All should produce excellent espresso when properly used. In the end not motivated by price - I want a dual boiler. If it wasnt dual boiler Veneziano A1 would be my choice.

        It is something I have been looking at for a while and saving for - so looking forward to it.

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: ECM Veneziano A1 Your Thoughts and Recommendat

          Gday fellow coffee addicts,
          Newbie here, Ive had the A1 for about 3 mths now (A1 matched with Mini Mazzer) and from my experience with this machine, I agree with whats been posted.

          My intentions for buying this machine is one of satisfaction over time. Being that regardless of cost this is the last machine I intend to buy for the home. Over the last 5 yrs Ive continually upgraded from the $100 Breville thermoblock to the Super Auto Gaggia. (Super Autos are convenient, but the complexity of the unit means long term reliabilty is compromised-ie prone to a lot of down time at the repair shop).

          So along came the A1, This is the first HX machine Ive owned
          and the learning curve is still progressing. However, having said that, from first cup tried, to so far, The quality of espressos extracted have been very good (only managed about 5 god like coffees due to operator rather than unit, but still practising)

          The way I figure is that if you happen to own one of these machines, then you cant go wrong. Sure its overkill for home use but Hey, Who cares? I love this machine. If money is no object, then there is no machine as beautiful for the home (if you can spare the benchtop space for unit and grinder)

          The biggest difference I found to the information on the web to what I found was that the A1 has a removable reservoir and doesnt require feed tubes to be placed into the reservoir. There are also no metalic plates found in the reservoir(Low water level indicator- which uses electric current past between plates). The unit straight out of the box came supplied with double PF and single PF, one blank basket (for backflush) but no tamper( dont really mind as the company supplied units are usually a cheap plastic scoop/tamp double ended 20 cent unit) There is also a long large spring (dont know what this is for- any ideas?) and a length of silicon? tube( used for plumbing in I suppose)

          What can I say? this is my latest love!!!!!

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: ECM Veneziano A1 Your Thoughts and Recommendations

            Hello everyone, I know this thread has been dead for several years but I have had my A1 for 4 months now and I love it even more than I did when I first "stole" it from a dealer for $599 US. The salesman misread the price card in their file and it was supposed to be $1599 but I got it for the quoted price from the owner of the store, he was a little upset with the salesman though!

            When I bought it, it had been sitting for a few years so when I tried to run it for the first time, the pump was frozen. I took the pump head off the motor and it broke free quite easily so I re-installed it and proceeded to back flush it and give it a good cleaning. All was well shortly and I was pumping out great espresso in short order.

            I have pulled about 1000 shots with it so far and the machine is a dream to work with. I did download the manual for it and did some looking for parts and discovered that there is no problem getting all the normal parts for the machine. Since I got her running for the first time in years, I have only had to replace the group head gasket. It started leaking about a month ago and when I went to remove the old one, it shattered into 5 large pieces as it was glass hard. I dont know how it was sealing but it was.

            I am not sure if you can buy this machine new anymore, I doubt it in the U.S. anyway but it is a fantastic buy in the used market. I upgraded to the A1 from an Oscar. I was quite happy with the Oscar until I saw the A1 sitting alone in a back room and it was love at first sight.

            Comment


            • #21
              Re: ECM Veneziano A1 Your Thoughts and Recommendations

              Wow, let me know if that salesman is offering any other A1s at that price! Nice catch!

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: ECM Veneziano A1 Your Thoughts and Recommendations

                Ditto, in fact if you can fill a container of them at that price Im sure we would have little trouble finding home for them here.

                Its a very pretty machine.  I have used a couple that ran a little warm but with some expert tweaking it works fine and it will provide years of great coffee.

                I know a CSr on the Gold Coast that has one in storage... I really think he should store it at the Snobbery, Ill look after it.

                8-)

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: ECM Veneziano A1 Your Thoughts and Recommendations

                  Yes- great machine and they are a collectors item these days- especially the S1 of which there are barely a handful in existence.

                  They can be tweaked for great performance.

                  FWIW, I have recently knocked back an offer of $morethanIpaidK on my souped up S1 and I dont think I could ever sell it. Its such a pleasure to use every time.

                  At this stage, we will not be seeing the A1 or S1 again although there may well be some new A2 and A3 machines someday....

                  2mcm

                  2mcm

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: ECM Veneziano A1 Your Thoughts and Recommendations

                    mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
                    MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
                    mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
                    MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
                    mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: ECM Veneziano A1 Your Thoughts and Recommendations

                      Originally posted by 79757B696E7B764579757C7C7F7F1A0 link=1121947092/23#23 date=1233811231
                      mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
                      MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
                      mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
                      MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
                      mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
                      There are some good A2 machines around if the shop has upgraditis Craig

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: ECM Veneziano A1 Your Thoughts and Recommendations

                        The Veneziano A1 machines are circa 2003

                        But since no one has posted a photo of the A1s great looks I have taken the liberty to post a photo
                        Hope no one minds



                        KK

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: ECM Veneziano A1 Your Thoughts and Recommendations

                          Heres an S1 (not mine)

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                          • #28
                            Re: ECM Veneziano A1 Your Thoughts and Recommendations

                            Here is a shot of my prize just after I brought her home. The warming tray was sprung a little when I first got her as well as the cover over the water tank was missing and the cup rail was gone also. I have since fixed the cup warmer tray but the cup rail and water tank cover are still missing. Some day I will get around to either buying these parts or making new ones myself. My handle is more than a name, it is an occupation for me so metal working is no big deal at all.

                            Those 1000 shots were all as doubles. On week days,  I normally pull a regular double shot to enjoy while I prepare a 6 shot 20 oz decaf latte for the hour long drive to my day job. When I get home there are usually similar shots pulled so that works out to 4 to 5 doubles in the morning and 4 to 5 in the evening or 8 to 10 doubles per day and about 4 or 5 doubles on weekend days so that works out to 48 to 60 doubles per week, say 50 for an average, x 4 weeks is 200 per month x 4 months comes up to about 800 + doubles since I bought the A1. The hot water tap has been put to good use for hot chocolate drinks for the wife as she does not care for coffee herself.

                            I have been more than very happy with the machine and it is sad that it is out of production but that only means that the remaining machines will be loved all that much more!

                            If I could find more of them at that price I am sure that I could turn them over very quickly but I got very lucky with this machine and I might stumble onto something in the future but who knows. I have a Mazzer SJ to feed my new Stainless Steel love and I did stumble onto a second SJ for $150 US that only needed a new set of burrs. So I have one for regular and one for decaf thus reducing the need to constantly re-adjust the grinder due to switching beans. I normally dont need to adjust for more than a few seconds on the pull from day to day, keeping the shots in the 25 to 30 second range.

                            I have found that I love the auto dosing as well. This helps to keep my shots good as the volume of water is the same each time, I only need to worry about adjusting the grind to keep my shots right. This alone has helped the quality of my shots a lot! By reducing the variables it is easier to concentrate on the remaining steps. I have the water supply plumbed in and the drain runs into a 4 gallon water bottle. We just re-did the kitchen and I would have been in the dog house for sure if I drilled holes in the new $8000 counters! So the water line and drain line run out the left rear of  the machine, along the wall and to the right  where the counter ends. I have a salt charged water softener with a sediment filter and a carbon filter under the sink to keep the water clean and soft.

                            EDIT:
                            Yes the bottom gauge is working. We live on the top of a hill so we have low water pressure. The gauge shows 1 bar of inlet pressure. Though it is less than the book requires, it works fine and we have had no problems with the fresh water. The drain on the other hand, some times I forget that it is not a "real" drain and the bottle fills up past where the hose enters the bottle but not overflowing, this reduces the speed in which the water can drain and the water will overflow the small drain box under the drip tray. I have only done this twice though and I pay more attention to the drain bottle now.

                            I do like it plumbed in much more than as a stand alone machine. I used it stand alone/pour over for about a month and that drip tray had to be plugged so that the water would not flow all over the counter. After having the very large drip tray on the Oscar, the tray on the A1 is a bit small, needing to be emptied nearly every other shot. On the Oscar, I could go all day without emptying it. Plumbed in is MUCH better! 8-)

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: ECM Veneziano A1 Your Thoughts and Recommendations

                              Great setup.
                              I also like the fact you have a separate grinder for decaf.
                              I would do that myself but i think the War Dept would court martial me ;D

                              Mal

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: ECM Veneziano A1 Your Thoughts and Recommendations

                                My chief cook and bottle washer who often acts a a Bait layer and cash flow controller, who I love dearly...

                                Would go pair shaped if I used even half of teh bench space that you have...

                                While she likes coffee, home cooked and well prepared meals is a first in her books...

                                I need lotto to build and extension to the kitchen to manage my Roaster (Fume hood), Reagent / Milk fridge and all the bench space for the equipment...

                                PS. It looks great.

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