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But most grinders will always have coffee between the burrs and the exit which won’t come out until you grind next time. Running the grinder until no coffee comes out won’t stop stale coffee getting into your next dose. I think that’s why some people blow it through with bellows and all that carry-on.

Yes the contamination will be fairly minor depending on your grinder’s retention. You might be able to see it, the two coffees will probably be quite different in colour.

I can definitely see that looming on the horizon

Only that your decaf won’t be quite as decaf as it might be unless you purge some coffee first.

Also you tend to need to grind decaf finer, and just remembering where the adjuster was before you moved it doesn’t always work when you go back to it.

I’ve had a little experiment with hi-passing my speakers using a Schiit Loki EQ. I kept turning down my sub until I realised it was basically off and it was the bass from the speakers that was sounding bad.

I’ve removed the speaker level connection to the sub and replaced it with an RCA from the preamp sub out, separating the sub from the power amp. I’ve then put the EQ between preamp and power amp and cut the bass out.

It functions correctly and seems cleaner right away. I’ll have to fidget with it for a few months before I can decide whether it’s worthwhile.

I like that it’s all done in the analogue area and it’s just knobs to twiddle. I do have a MiniDSP but I don’t want to adjust it by computer, plus it’s the all digital one so that means another box each side of it for the digital conversion.

Fuck me.

Oi, cunty - ever heard of a thermos?

Great stuff, thanks for ordering.

https://www.brita.com.au/news-stories/consumer/what-is-limescale

This explains things well. Only reverse-osmosis filtering will reduce the mineral content to detrimental levels and those systems for catering use have a bypass to prevent that. Standard Brita type filters work great.

Puly Caff

I’ve been to a cupping with Swiss Water, the organic decaf processors and there was a huge variety of flavour on the table. I stick with the Colombia because we need consistency for our wholesale customers which is the biggest market for our roasted decaf but if you see Swiss Water anything else at other roasters then the raw coffee will definitely be good.

The roasting of decaf is all over the map between different roasters though. I go really dark in colour because it is incredibly vinegary - the raw coffee smells like pickled onion monster munch. Roasting dark subdues the acidity and in the decaf we don’t get the carbon burnt flavours developing at the same roast colours as regular coffee - I won’t pretend to know why. A lot of roasters just simply can’t bring themselves to roast to that colour because it’s anathema in these circles so you get decaffeinated Sarsons.

Doesn’t paper filtering remove all the oil? You want that from a stovetop brew don’t you?

We rented an apartment in Naples in October which had a little Bialetti and a vac pack brick of Kimbo - I was loving it with a teaspoon of sugar every morning. Took a bit of adjusting to get back to acidic light roasted coffee.

I dunno, sounds like you’ve got a good chance of getting some nice harmony with that system. I would look at an integrated amp, I don’t know how you can tell by looking, but there’s a chance the preamp and phono sections are tubified, giving you the goods.

Be careful with system matching if your speakers are warm. I would go for a cartridge that’s known for being neutral to bright. I had one system which was Pioneer PL12D, Quad IIs and big old Rogers LS7s and it was warm on top of warm on top of warm and it got pretty boring.

The effect of valve amps is subtle, not the transformation you might be led to expect. With my first one (obscure French built 60wpc power amp - bought for £600, original purchase price £5k - they depreciate like nothing else) the initial impression was that it seemed cleaner, more transparent and more detailed than its predecessor but that was because it was a leap in quality. The spacious 3D juicy thing didn’t really come about until I upgraded the rest of my kit to a quality that would resolve it.

So yes there’s a few integrated valve amps on eBay at that budget right now but there might not be a massive improvement, although it’s worth getting something future proof for when/if you upgrade your cartridge, phono stage etc.

It was a shit school, I read that thing about the bullying, don’t know if it’s true, he moved up north but he definitely didn’t “have nothing”

10-6 to Ronnie?

Anyhow, just read this in the interval; I went to school with Sean Murphy. I delivered his parents’ newspaper to his detached new build house on the posh estate with the brand new company Mondeo on the drive. He isn’t a private school posh cunt but he’s hardly Oliver Twist.

Huge BBC Archive clearance auction.

https://bid.omegaauctions.co.uk/auction/details/a219c-the-bbc-collection---sale-one/?au=149

I have to admit I don’t know, I’ve never played with changing tubes despite having several bits of valve equipment. I do like running it with lots of gain from the phono stage and less on the power amplifier, it gets noticeably more psychedelic.

I use French press and pre-ground coffee for this. Disposing of the grounds is a bit messy that’s all.

I took a punt on upgrading the phono stage in my system from the one built in to the preamp and I was really happy with the result. Bought it on Amazon so I could return it easily if it didn’t make an improvement but that’s definitely not happening.

I’ve got to replace a gear pump on the Sanremo Opera in the shop. I’ve done 2 of the 3 previously, they were about £350 a couple of years ago. £900 now. Fortunately there’s a repair kit available which has also tripled in price to £180.

Coffee freshness is pretty much ideal then.
You’ve got all your variables under control, just pump pressure is unknown so I’d look at that. Some machines ship with the pump at max pressure. Check to see whether you have an adjustable OPV on your machine, then see if you can borrow a portafilter pressure gauge to see what you’re getting

How fresh is your coffee?
Did you buy the grinder new? - could the burrs be dull?
Are you getting a consistent dose of ground coffee?

That’s the dry side of things, then check the machine is in good order - correct pump pressure, dispersion block and screen not obstructed by scale or dirt. Maybe get a new basket in case the holes have gone wrong.

Tamping just takes diligence but you can get all that fiddly kit that takes the guesswork out of basket prep.

This but it’s a bit open-source, enthusiast level.

https://brennan.co.uk/pages/b3-overview

It’s a special accessibility needs switch 😂

TVM Northampton. Give him a call I’m sure he’d love to chat.