La Spaziale
Vivaldi II Espresso Machine

Love the machine! Bumped the temp to 95 degrees. Use it every day. The only complaint was hooking up the water line. The metal fitting does not appear to work with USA plumbing. Different threads? Ended up going with the plastic adapter that you added that I had never seen before (which makes me nervous about blowing the line at some point). There were no notes included to explain why the plastic fitting was required. Took several hours and 4 trips the Home Dept to complete what your instructions called a simple or straightforward connection! That was exasperating and almost resulted in a return. I strongly suggest adding a note as to why you put the plastic line connector into the metal fitting. I thought it was optional.

? Our goal was to purchase an espresso machine and grinder for a caf�_ at a small church.
? We purchased our equipment from Clive Coffee. The salesperson, Chris R. could not have been more helpful in directing us toward the correct items for our needs and offering a reasonable price. I worked with several other companies and no one else came close. I'd suggest that Clive Coffee does everything possible to keep Chris R. working for them!
? Even though we purchased our equipment from Clive Coffee, it actually shipped from Chris' Coffee Service.
? One of the four feet had come completely detached in shipping. Obviously La Spaziale is aware of this, as they state in the manual, "Twist all four rubber feet (3) hand tight as they may vibrate loose during shipping." Reattaching it was no big deal.
? The unit was dripping water in the box, obviously from being bench-tested. It makes me wonder if there might be issues of freezing when shipping. Then again, in colder months, they may take more care to dry out the machine. In any case, I appreciated receiving a bench-tested unit.
? We purchased the La Spaziale Vivaldi II ? which requires a water supply connection. Our unit came with a single sheet of paper warning us to follow some steps before plugging in the unit. Yet, the warning sheet was for the tank-water-supplied "Mini Vivaldi", and therefore just a touch confusing.
? I work at a scientific laboratory equipment company where we design and manufacture pretty expensive analysis machines (sometimes with a seven-digit price tag). Examining the inside the Vivaldi II reminded me of the quality workmanship I see every day where I work. I'm impressed.
? The unit did not ship with a printed manual, but instead directs us to download it from Chris' Coffee. That's fine by me. However, the downloaded manual also references the official La Spaziale manual that contains all the safety information ? but there is no explanation as to how to get this official manual. That's not fine by me.
? The manual has many mistakes, is confusing, contains weird diversions, and has the feeling of a cobbled-together mess. Here are some examples:
o The use of the term "boiler" is confusing. This product has two boilers, a steam boiler and a group boiler. While the manual sometimes refers to a "group boiler" and a "steam boiler", sometimes it does not. For example, "The light corresponding to the set temperature starts flashing to indicate that the group is heating and the automatic boiler refill starts until the water level preset by the manufacturer is reached."
o This is what I would call a diversion, "A triac is a device to which a small DC control voltage can be applied in order to turn on a large AC current source? Think of a triac as a solid state semiconductor equivalent of an electro-mechanical relay?"
o The chart on page 28 (Quick Setting Guide) is horribly pixilated (and colored) revealing a lack of craftsmanship by the author. However, the chart itself is very useful.
? So far, we have not run into any problems with the Vivaldi II. Programming the pre-infusion time and dose volume was a piece of cake. The steam is pretty impressive too.
? I would like to see an automatic shot timer accessory for this unit.
? We also purchased the Mazzer Super Jolly with doser.
o This grinder is fast and quiet.
o The doser likes to hoard coffee grinds in the chute, so I find myself removing the finger shield and digging for grounds using the brush between sessions.
o The label indicating which way to turn the adjustment ring is easy enough to understand, but equally easy to misinterpret. It is kind of like looking at a 3D wire cube and not sure which end is up.
o A worm gear or some other device to make micro-adjustments would be welcome.
o The dose-adjustment screw can be found buried in the grinds. It would make sense to be able to make this adjustment from outside the hopper.
? We are pretty happy with the choice of the La Spaziale Vivaldi II and the Mazzer Super Jolly with doser.