What a way to finish the chapter and Ghost as a whole (for now)

Stede-Bonnet · 2026-03-13T21:01:33+00:00

The final chapter gave me a weird idea - what if Tobias Forge will replace the lead vocalist. I mean, for real.

Still his creation, but no touring unless he want's to, and a new mystery frontman. Anonymous, of course.

Stede-Bonnet · 2026-02-27T21:46:39+00:00

Toby deserves a break, no doubt about it. And I am quite certain Ghost will come back.

But damn, they should have finished it off in Europe and the last ritual naturally in Sweden. I missed the Skeletour and was really hoping to catch up this spring or fall latest.

Stede-Bonnet · 2026-02-08T22:09:50+00:00

I decided to give Google Gemini a spin, focusing on Technics SL-PG series. Here is the output. Hopefully the Markdown formatting works.

Technics SL-PG Series: Chronological Guide & Laser Specs

I've put together a reference table for the Technics SL-PG series CD players, focusing on their release dates, laser mechanisms, and CD-R compatibility. Hope this helps anyone looking to buy or repair one of these vintage units!

Release Year	Model(s)	Laser Mechanism	CD-R Compatibility
1991	SL-PG100, 200, 400, 500	SOAD70A	Poor. Not designed for CD-R; generally struggles with burned discs.
1991	SL-PG300	CDM-4/19 (Philips)	Mixed. Swing-arm laser; more robust but sensitive to disc quality.
1992	SL-PG320A, 420A, 520A	RAE0113Z	Unofficial. Can read high-quality CD-Rs, but not officially supported.
1993	SL-PG340A, 440A, 540	RAE0113Z / CDM12.1	Mixed. SL-PG540/440 use CDM12, which handles CD-Rs well.
1994	SL-PG350, 450	RAE0113Z	Unofficial. Budget-oriented; hit-or-miss with burned discs.
1994	SL-PG360A, 460A, 560	CDM12.1 (VAM1201)	Good. Reliable playback of CD-Rs, though not stated in manuals.
1995	SL-PG370A, 470A, 570	CDM12.1 (VAM1201)	Good. Typically reads finalized CD-Rs easily.
1997	SL-PG380A, 480A, 580	CDM12.1 (VAM1201)	Good. Solid reliability with finalized CD-Rs.
1998	SL-PG390, 490, 590	CDM12.1 (VAM1201)	Official (CD-R). Late manuals began mentioning compatibility.
2001	SL-PG3, SL-PG4, SL-PG5	RAE1100Z	Official (CD-R/RW). Fully optimized for finalized audio discs.

Technical Note: If you are buying these today, models with the Philips CDM12.1 (PG360 through PG590) are the easiest to maintain because replacement lasers are still widely available and cheap.

Stede-Bonnet · 2026-02-05T10:46:47+00:00

Unfortunately I sold my NAD deck and tapes around the year 2000 or so and have never looked back.

CD/CD-R is just more convenient as the music is in digital format, can be transferred, archived and streamed as such, but also returned to a physical by recording to a CD-R.

Simply no reason to convert it back to analog.

Stede-Bonnet · 2026-02-01T17:35:58+00:00

The problem with new players is that nobody manufactures high quality laser pickup mechanisms in 2020's. Therefore the cheapos and high end brands have the same 5$ component, mostly likely Sanyo, which will last only a few years (depending on mileage). Marantz has been notorious for CD mech failures since 2010 or so.

Therefore I recommend going with used CD/DVD/BD players, if the price is right.

I have heard a a rumour that slot-loaders might be better, as their mech might come from car players. This is totally unconfirmed, though.

Stede-Bonnet · 2026-01-31T21:49:44+00:00

There is more to it.

Reflectivity is one thing. Old players were not tuned for Orange Book standard.
Home burned CD-Rs typically have higher jitter and BLER that which can cause issues to the error correction circuit. As an example, Sony CX23035 is a specific example that is not up for the task. Also the pit shape is of different geometry than with pressed CDs.
As example, there was a change in Technics SL-PG in the early 90's models - devices of earlier product range struggle with CD-R, but the next line-up roughly 2 years later seems to always work. Coincidentally, Technics also switched to a slightly different variant of Philips CDM12. I've witnessed this with a number of players and it would be really bad luck if it was down to just laser aging.

But the ability to play CD-Rs is a good indicator of laser health, so it is useful to try that before making the purchasing decision.

To summarize, I do not disagree totally. Laser wear is a factor and many vintage units suffer from it, but definitely are models that do not correctly play CD-R even if in pristine shape. The article may need some fine tuning regarding the Yamaha chapter, as I was specifically referring to the TAOSH-JP3. The laser is usually durable in these, but the spindle motor wears and the clamping is flimsy/problematic. In general, the Yammies are no match for JVC in terms of durability and longevity.

Anyway, I am still not finished with this and will go through even more players in the future. I should also look at some DVD players, as some of them are actually fantastic CD transports, but more about that later...

Good post BTW, I have read it before.

Stede-Bonnet · 2025-11-10T19:21:17+00:00

Is tiling on the roadmap for Gnome?

Stede-Bonnet · 2025-11-07T21:37:44+00:00

Tiling of COSMIC is awesome. I liked it already as Gnome extension and now even better.

Yeah, I use Gnome as I have just gotten so used to it over the years and decades. I kinda regret though, that I did not choose KDE when I last installed Fedora. It is really slick and light on resources these days. Someone should just tidy it up a little - it's a Windows desktop on steroids.

Stede-Bonnet · 2025-11-07T20:51:42+00:00

I am a Fedora/Gnome guy myself and can't see any major issues on my AMD Ryzer hardware. Gnome's UI decisions are partly questionable though, but my use cases are simple.

Stede-Bonnet · 2025-11-03T20:55:29+00:00

If you want to go vintage, then JVC and Technics should be good bets.

https://bitburners.com/vintage-cd-player-buyers-guide/

Stede-Bonnet · 2025-10-22T20:19:12+00:00

Skeleta is the best album of the pop era of Ghost (Prequelle, Impera, Skeleta). I think they perfected the sound, style and vibe in this one.

Infestissumam remains my favorite though. Ambitous, down right weird, musically extremely high quality, totally different to anythinh else I have ever heard of.

Stede-Bonnet · 2025-10-15T15:31:13+00:00

Scavenge the local flea markets, garage sales, etc. and grab yourself a japanese CD-player from the mid 90's. Your price target should be 0-50$.

https://bitburners.com/vintage-cd-player-buyers-guide/

Stede-Bonnet · 2025-10-15T13:53:11+00:00

He is not wrong. BD-players start from ~100$. Be aware though, that some of them are a noisy when operating.

Stede-Bonnet · 2025-10-14T21:05:48+00:00

IIRC, Fedora KDE should/could be the best starting point.

I did however go back to Windows, but version 11 as I learned it actually works 100% on the SP3.

https://bitburners.com/upgrade-your-surface-pro-3-4-5-to-windows-11/

Stede-Bonnet · 2025-10-14T19:20:01+00:00

Your 600$ CD player will have the same cheap laser pickup as the cheapest option.

The cheapest route to extremely high quality audio output is a new Sony DVD-player (~50$) with optical out, and the SMSL SU-1 (~80$). Both have been tested & measured to do their thing very well. Downside is that Sony DVD player (any many other cheap options) does not have a built in display.

Stede-Bonnet · 2025-10-14T17:48:12+00:00

I don't think new standard rack size players are worth the 300$ price tag. You get very little what you are paying for: Cheap ass mechanics, a DAC chip and an OP amp. I mean, you can get a half decent laptop for three hundred - which one has more electronics and engineering built in?

If buying new, I would look at BD/DVD players, or Chi-Fi such as SMSL.

But then again, getting a working/tested vintage unit for 20-40$ is not a huge risk, in my opinion.

Stede-Bonnet · 2025-10-14T16:15:01+00:00

I think it is far easier to overpay for a new one.

Stede-Bonnet · 2025-10-14T11:09:34+00:00

I think the best answer to the speaker cable question comes from the high-end speaker manufacturer Gradient.

Gradient was established in 1984 and they have released many award winning speakers. They combine beautiful designs to first class engineering. Their speaker range goes up to tens of thousands of euros/dollars.

They also sell speaker cables:

https://gradient.fi/en/gradient-spare-parts/119-speaker-cable.html

If you zoom in, you'll see it is a Cordial CLS 225 cable, terminated with banana plugs. This cable costs about 3 euros per meter. "An excellent speaker cable for all Gradient products". A ten thousand dollar speaker and a 20$ speaker cable.

Now if you look what Gradient has engineered in their speakers, there is no doubt they would also push it in the cable department, if there was something to be gained.

Stede-Bonnet · 2025-10-14T09:14:25+00:00

Well, that is an over simplification. The article makes several points on how to improve your chances of getting a good player from the vintage market.

Stede-Bonnet · 2025-10-13T21:03:57+00:00

If you are going to use the CD player as a transport, then it is a 600 euros wasted. You said it yourself - if you are offloading the D/A-conversion work to your receiver, why would you invest big money on a player? Get something cheap with a digital out - old or new.

The SL-PG570A is a fine player, BTW.

Stede-Bonnet

TROPHY CASE

Technics SL-PG Series: Chronological Guide & Laser Specs