Don't get me wrong mate, overwhelming opinion I hear is that the ECM is fantastically reliable (& I've being doing quite a bit of research lately into various machines seeing I'm upgrading). Also admittedly I've only played around a few times with an ECM (Veneziano), so have little personal insight into its abilities/foibles. Just seemed to me too much of a coincidence that I've heard 3 separate reports (unrelated) lately of solenoid probs jinxing ECMs. On an unrelated note, but still on machines, I recently ground up 200gms of Pioneer's Mocha Java (beautifully roasted must say!) to put through my sister's little home delonghi. Had to grind very fine, dosed high & tamped tight, but surprisingly extracted a nicely poured, full bodied ristretto with a decent near cm thick crema! The puck came out pretty solid too with little sludge. Did this a few times with consistently surprising results. Went into the exercise with scepticism, came out with a smile! Only concern was it took nearly 5 seconds after pressing the button to start extracting, so I thought for sure it was going to be bitter via burnt grind - but no, was OK! Not bad for a $250 machine!
