Silvia v2 - good place to start?

[Perthsnob]

Hi,

I am starting to look at buying a machine for use at home, and am looking for some advice. I currently do a lot of filter stuff at home - mainly chemex, French press and Aeropress. But I also love a long black, which is one of the reasons I am looking to purchase an espresso machine.

Another reason is that I am thinking about getting into the coffee industry, and I am keen to develop some good barista skills by practicing at home, so I'd like to do so on a half decent machine without spending $10k. Ideally I would be looking to spend less than $1000, and i'd be happy to go secondhand so that I am able to afford a higher quality machine.

Any ideas or general advice on where to go from here? A barista recently recommended a Sab Alice - any thoughts?

Anyway, I have recently seen a Rancilio package for sale, which includes a Rocky grinder and a V2 Silvia machine. This all came from me looking to buy a new grinder, and the Rocky was one of 2/3 that I was looking at. These two items sound like they have been used sparingly over the last 5 years or so, and the machine has been cleaned and descaled. I don't know anything about the Silvia (other than the PiD debate!), but I have seen a number of positive comments scattered throughout these forums. Given that the machine is a v2, and a good few years old, is this something that I should take a look at, or am I better looking elsewhere?

I will be buying my grinder in the next couple of weeks - if not this secondhand Rocky it will be a brand new Macap m2m, and I would be happy to wait longer and save more $$$ for a better espresso machine.

Thanks.

[leighaus]

i recently got a s/h silvia. i have really enjoyed learning on it. mine came modified with a new v4 boiler, pid, pre-infusion switch and a pressure gauge.
one of the biggest pro's of a silvia is that is entirely replaceable and easy to source parts for an italian machine. due to its simplicity, you can do it yourself if you have half a noggin too.
Everyone will have opinions of their choice in your position. In the end, weigh up what works best for you.

If you plan on working on your skills at volume and as such would be making more than 2-3 milk based coffees regularly, then i'd probably recommend a dually.
Ive done 7 coffees on the silvia before. It's doable, but a little stressy with a 2 cup milk jug and single boiler

Ultimately, price will play the biggest part. You mentioned 1000$, then said youd happily save more for better.. Work out a ceiling price and try and stick to it. Or youll mentally upgrade until you're holding a 5000$ home machine in a daze.

[Perthsnob]

Thanks Leigh. Not overly fussed about the Silvia, but was mildly interested given the price and he overall package with grinder. Ultimately, I think I would be looking for extra features and functionality, without having to install upgrades, etc. I'm not very handy, to say the least...

Good point about a dually, but not sure I will need that. At this stage I would be aiming to work on the technical skills, as opposed to working on volume, but certainly something worth considering. And about the budget - I totally get what you're saying about setting a ceiling price. I'm just not really sure what I can expect to get from spending $500 on a machine, compared to spend I $1K, $2K, and so on... More research required!

Thanks again.