# Alternative to the silvia?



## Fevmeister (Oct 21, 2013)

Looking at machines in and around the £300-£500 area.

I was wondering what alternatives to the silvia there are?

Everyone in this price range seems to have one but I was wondering whether this was the only reasonable option in this budget!


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Fevmeister said:


> Looking at machines in and around the £300-£500 area.
> 
> I was wondering what alternatives to the silvia there are?
> 
> Everyone in this price range seems to have one but I was wondering whether this was the only reasonable option in this budget!


New or used ? Making espresso only or wanting to do milk drinks ?


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## Fevmeister (Oct 21, 2013)

both and milk drinks

im not buying i was just wondering what else there is in this space?


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Fevmeister said:


> both and both
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Your not buying ?


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## Fevmeister (Oct 21, 2013)

not yet, but may be in the position to in the short term


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## Fevmeister (Oct 21, 2013)

i have recently depressurised my stupid gaggia carezza and getting okay results so that will put me on as i learn, but an insatiable appetite to upgrade has already set in!


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Ok next step up I terms of technology and ease of use would be something like a HX machine ,which would be more temperature stable and allow for more steaming . New under £500 though ,nope .....

Cherubs and heavenly so for under £500 second hand.

Oscars have been picked up for good prices ( under £500 ) recently on eBay , are steaming monsters and come recommended by those that use them.

Single boilers ,are single boilers ( classic ,silvia , etc ) , out oft he box they are suffer from the same things , of having to temp surf to manage extraction temperature and waiting for them to be able to steam and pull back to back shot, if you are happy with that them it's fine . Silvia has a bigger boiler than a classic ,bit more steam power,but stills suffers for temperature instability .

If your going to get a better machine , do you have the grinder to deliver the taste ?


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## Fevmeister (Oct 21, 2013)

the oscar looks like a good option but aesthetically i think it looks like a much cheaper machine. just my opinion though so no offence intended if anyone has one!

around christmas time I think im going to buy the smart grinder which is being reviewed on here so I assume soon after that i will be upgrading my machine!


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

The Oscar looks cheaper than which machine ? Don't be fooled by the plastic , it will blow the socks of a silvia .


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Oscars don't looks as cheap in the flesh as they do in pictures online. Nowhere near as nice as a shiny shiny but still decent and they're great value for the money - I paid £250 for mine.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

jeebsy said:


> Oscars don't looks as cheap in the flesh as they do in pictures online. Nowhere near as nice as a shiny shiny but still decent and they're great value for the money - I paid £250 for mine.


£250 for a Oscar is amazing value for money . Good bargain jeebsy


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## Fevmeister (Oct 21, 2013)

yeah good job jeebs - may have to try see one in the flesh then in that case.

the depressurisation, though, has worked quite nicely. I took apart the pf on my carezza deluxe and took out the pressurised bit and im now getting pretty good results. someone on here had previously mentioned to me that my machine is capable of delivering decent results should i depressurise so i gave it a go!


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Fevmeister said:


> yeah good job jeebs - may have to try see one in the flesh then in that case.
> 
> the depressurisation, though, has worked quite nicely. I took apart the pf on my carezza deluxe and took out the pressurised bit and im now getting pretty good results. someone on here had previously mentioned to me that my machine is capable of delivering decent results should i depressurise so i gave it a go!


Cool , I'd look at some kind of HX machine for the next step , going from one single boiler to another is a sideways step ,the silvia is better but , HX does more in terms of use .


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## SimonB (Sep 12, 2013)

Fevmeister said:


> the oscar looks like a good option but aesthetically i think it looks like a much cheaper machine. just my opinion though so no offence intended if anyone has one!


Well it's handy they make a pretty version of the Oscar then! I can't actually ever recall seeing a second hand Musica for sale though.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Coz its got groovy disco lights. Who would give them up! Functionaly a great.machine by all accounts to. Simon what did you have before


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## Fevmeister (Oct 21, 2013)

Is the musica a version of the oscar? It appears to be much more expensive!


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

It's got a few more bells and whistles


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## SimonB (Sep 12, 2013)

Mrboots2u said:


> Coz its got groovy disco lights. Who would give them up! Functionaly a great.machine by all accounts to. Simon what did you have before


Hah, I better hope those disco lights never give out as I've seen how much they ask for replacement ones and you could buy a new machine for the same money! I had a Gaggia classic before, great little machine but the annoyance of a tiny boiler, tiny drip tray etc forced upgraditis on me.


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## SimonB (Sep 12, 2013)

Fevmeister said:


> Is the musica a version of the oscar? It appears to be much more expensive!


I'm told it's largely the same inside but it's the same principle as most expensive bits of gear in many fields or hobbies, once you're past a certain threshold large increases in cost have diminishing returns (in this case the obvious differences being the disco lights and extra elbow room but there are some differences internally).

Regardless if you can't live with the looks of an Oscar you have options, not necessarily sensible ones but options nonetheless!


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## Padder (Dec 14, 2012)

Isn't the Oscar difficult to descale due to not hot water outlet?


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Haven't done it yet - there's a valve to drain the boiler but you need to take case off to get to it. Only a few screws though so no biggie.


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## glevum (Apr 4, 2013)

Padder said:


> Isn't the Oscar difficult to descale due to not hot water outlet?


There is a tipping technique.


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## Wando64 (Feb 28, 2011)

glevum said:


> There is a tipping technique.


This is interesting. I am wondering whether there would be any value in trying this with a Silvia too. Has anybody done it?


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Silvia is single boiler with a water outlet tho . Not sure why you would want to tip it?


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## Wando64 (Feb 28, 2011)

Mrboots2u said:


> Silvia is single boiler with a water outlet tho . Not sure why you would want to tip it?


Water outlet? I am not sure what you mean.

The Silvia boiler design causes water input and output (for both brew and steam) to happen at the top of the boiler (the brew water passes through an internal pipe from top to bottom). Unfortunately this means that it is very difficult to replace the entire boiler water content with descaling solution. The trick that I (and many other) use is to steam out as much water as possible without burning the heater, and then refill with descaling solution. This works to a point, but the solution will still be diluted to some extent with the water that was still in the boiler. The video above made me think that maybe one could fully empty the boiler by tipping the machine before refilling with descaling solution


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