How to fix wifi for an unsupported Realtek 8852 adapter in the current GMKTec NucBox G3 running Linux Debian based OS

I just bought a CUTE and TINY, dirt cheap and brand new (NOT refurbished!) GMKTec NucBox G3 mini-PC to replace Momsy's PC that just died, and set it up with Linux Mint Debian (LMDE). There was just one thing...

UPDATE on 2025-10-05: 
You can probably skip a ton of stuff. I just installed the latest Linux Kernel image in another NucBox, complete with headers. No extra drivers needed! 
Installing 6.12.43 was all I had to do, when trying out a few other "distros" (distributions) in the last few weeks! The newer Linux versions just digested every device in my new "NucBox 3G Plus". 
This is because telling hardware what to go do with itself is in the kernel.  

So Momsy's PC died, and gone was her solitaire, Mahjong, and daily news, and email with Germany!

Maybe I could have fixed the old refurb box, but after a day of head scratching, and looking at what we had, it was time to move on to a better machine. After a lifetime of tinkering on tight budgets building and fixing Franken-puters, I am tired of messing around. We splurged for a bit over 100 bucks!

The NucBox G3 is now a sweet machine, dead quiet, even with the CPU running, very snappy, and boots fast, in under 30 seconds, compared to the over 2 minutes for the old spinning disk tech Acer model. 

It is altogether amazing, but had ONE problem: 

The built in wifi module was not working with Linux Mint Debian, and according to web comments, on no Linux version at all.

I HATE Windows with a passion, mainly due to the incessant huge updates, that eat my meagre cell-phone tethering/hotspot only connection for up to a couple of days! Mind you, it works dandy for streaming Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, and I BINGE all day. Being at home disabled with a bummer heart defect and stroke after effects, it is better than just dozing! 

Aside from the steady Gigabyte sized updates, there are also tons of privacy problems, bugs, and stuff that Microsoft never admits to, as I know from working in a tech centre for many years. 

So, OUT with Winedoze (I saved that solid state drive in case insanity makes me buy a game, and plugged in a blank SSD for 20 bucks, no biggy), and here comes Linux! Everything worked after plugging in the live/installer image USB-stick with Mint Debian, aka LMDE, except wifi, same with straight Debian. Momsy is used to Mint, it has far better wall-papers, and I wanted Momsy to notice no difference, so Mint it was!

I could have just plugged a spare external wifi dongle, as the old machine did not even have internal wifi, but I was curious. The solution finally came after about 3 searches happened to hit the right keywords and lead me to a good solution!

WARNING: 

If the stuff below makes no sense, YOU ARE NEW TO LINUX, SO JUST USE AN OLDER EXTERNAL WIFI ADAPTER!

A new installation of current Linux Mint (YEAH!), Debian (YEAH!), or Ubuntu (which I like as much as Windoze... NOT) will pick up an older (2 years?) wifi adapter without problems. You may need an extra USB splitter, but it is the easy solution. 

Here is what you need, and don't ask me to tutor you, lest you are willing to pay me a tutoring fee!

AT YOUR OWN RISK

This worked for me:

THE REALTEK 8852 NEEDS THE LATEST KERNEL, and was not recognised with my 6.1 series kernel! 
This means, you need to use your "Software Manager" or "Synaptic Package Manager" to search for the latest kernel, that is preferably signed AND matches the CPU type of the other already installed and known functional kernels. Currently (as of 9 Sept 2025), this is version 6.12 for Linux Mint Debian, but a few months earlier I had read, that 6.5 would work as the then latest.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
sudo apt update && sudo apt install linux-image-generic
(this may or may not get a kernel that works, as mentioned above, a manual search with package and software managers may be required)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

NEXT, install the drivers:

To install the Realtek 8852 driver on Mint Debian, you'll need to download the "rtw89" driver from GitHub, compile it manually, and then install it using the following steps:
 
1. Update system and install build tools:
Open a terminal and run.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

sudo apt update

sudo apt install build-essential git linux-headers-generic


2. Download the rtw89 driver:
Clone the repository from GitHub.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw89.git

cd rtw89


3. Compile the driver:
• Run the following command to compile the driver for your kernel:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

make


4. Install the driver:
Install the compiled module.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
sudo make install

=================================

A dirt cheap Crosley that sounds good and is good? NO WAY!!!

An experience that surprised the heck out of me!

NO WAY!

 

A turntable for (mmpf-nine) Bucks?

 

LESS than 99, much less than 99, MUCH less than some big box retailers want for it at 149 bucks! 

 

If you get one, DO NOT fall for the inflated prices at Amazon or Walmart!

Crosley sells these direct at crosleyradio.com, with shipping included, for (ahem) bucks. NUTS! 

On to the Crosley C3 and how it performs:

 

Direct from Crosley's website, the C3 is too cheap to be good and true.

It was so cheap, that since I have no fun otherwise (I don't even spend gas money for the 16 mile trip to town more than twice a year!), I spent money I really don't have in my disabled budget, to order one just for giggles.

 

 

The bad part,

which is bad and not to be under-estimated!

 

I was skeptical when I looked at images, and proven correct, but was still surprised about how badly designed and space consuming the really HUGE base of the machine is.It looks pretty and unusual, but there are good reasons to package a turntable in the usual boring squarish case, instead of the 3 legged giant base, that could be inspired by a "Cylon" base-ship straight from the newer Battlestar Galactica series!

Frankly, at a required almost coffee-table size of 16 inches by 16 inches, most people will be hard pressed to find a spot to put this beast in a normal entertainment shelf!

So off it went into the library nook on the floor to check it out, while I mulled over how to stack it onto my secondary system.

Sitting on a box on the floor, I began scratching my head.

Did I want to keep this monster, which on pictures looks so small and basic, but in real life needs too much space?

At least I could see, how good the drive is on this thing.

 

 

The surprisingly good part

- good and steady speed and dead quiet!

 

So how can it be, that a turntable I got for LESS than a hundred bucks is totally superior with its el-cheapo DC-motor to a SIX hundred dollar machine with a buzzing noise from its AC-motor?

 

I am not kidding here! I had to tame the motor buzzing noise on my formerly 600 dollar Music-Hall MMF-2.2 LE (the model has been defunct for many years now) by installing some damping foam under its motor-mount suspenders, and during quiet passages, I can still hear it buzzing away. The Crosley C3 is simply dead quiet out of the box. The Crosley is 1/10 the cost of the Music-Hall (which even used still sells at high prices), and needs no add-ons to control noise.

 

To be fair, Music-Hall and Pro-Ject have ditched their AC motors and moved on to DC motors, so the buzzing should be a thing of the past, while they do have superior arms, which open a new world in sound!

 

Breaking out my moby (my cell phone!) with the "RPM speed and wow" app installed, I put a styrofoam block on the spindle for a flat surface, the phone on top of it, and began repeat measurements.

 

Steady speed is most important, and the old DIN standard we know from the 70s specified better than 0.2% as a minimum. Today's turntables sadly often do not even meet that, so I heard a drum-whirl, while I prepared to measure the C3!

 

The wow and flutter I measured was excellent, and was on par with my AC-synchronous motor driven Dual belt drives and the Music-Hall MMF-2.2LE.

 

I got a very consistent 0.11% wow and flutter, with extremes as low as 0.08%, and only a very few worst measurements at 0.16%. This puts the C3 solidly into good standing for its drive performance, and the machine was dead quiet when playing vinyl, so both wow/flutter and rumble of the drive are really good, especially for its price, that normally doesn't even buy the Audio Technica cartridge by itself (with a Rega sticker on it, but more about that later)!

 

So it was steady and quiet, but was it on the correct speed?

 

The drive was running at 34 rpm instead of 33.333, but that is within acceptable tolerances of only 2%. Most people cannot detect the pitch being off at only 2%, and running a wee fast gives music a bit faster and thus livelier rhythm, so faster is better than too slow, which sounds a wee lame. Many turntables run at close to 34 rpm out of the box, so this is no reason to niggle here.

 

The DC motor of the C3 is actually THE familiar looking standard DC motor (an EG530SD series with built in speed control) you find in practically all DC motor belt drive turntables today, so knowing the beastie, I adjusted it to 33.5.

 

Adjusting these things with just their internal trimmers is a very sensitive and twitchy business requiring patience, so I will NOT disclose how I did it. If you are adept at tweaking electronics, you will know what to do, but if you need instructions, you are better off just spinning at 34 rpm and tapping your foot a bit faster!

 

 

The other good part 

- surprisingly good sound!

 

One thing here:

 

The included 25 dollar cartridge by itself, the AT3600L, is sold with a Rega sticker as the Rega Carbon for a whopping 60 to 80 bucks, more than I paid for this whole turntable with everything. 

Rega does include free snake oil though ... never mind ...

 

So getting a built-in phono-preamp at all at this price is good enough as an emergency hold-over, until you can buy a better one as an outboard unit. People seem to like the Rolls VP29 preamp you can get for about 50 bucks, and ART also has one on that price level, but I'd rather get the ART Precision for a few dollars more. Skip the Music-Hall for 100 bucks, because it is the Rolls VP29 preamp at double the price!

 

My own phono-preamps are either built in with my vintage receivers, or I run either of the following:

 

1 ) a $200 Pro-Ject Phono-Box-S2

2 ) a $80 Technolink TC-760LC you can buy at Amazon or at phonopreamps.com

 

Frankly, if you don't already have a stereo system, and are lucky enough to get just about any old fully functional receiver with a phono-input for under 150 bucks, you get a better deal!

 

Connecting the C3 to my vintage SAE-Two R3C receiver, I first tried the C3's own internal phono-preamp and used the auxiliary input on the receiver. 

 

Most people nowadays have no phono-preamp input, just some computer speakers, or some iPod speaker thingy, so testing the C3's built in preamp is valid.

 

So through the built in phon-preamp, the C3 sounds tinny and very bright, like somebody turned the bass off.

 

With the AT3600L cartridge being a wee dull compared to others, this is not necessarily bad, and you can get used to it. The neighbours will certainly like you for not thumping them with your moozak!

 

Keeping in mind, that is is basically a free preamp you get as a bonus, it is a tolerable situation.

 

However, connecting the cable to the phono-preamp on the receiver, the sound suddenly became rich and full.

 

This C3 was suddenly on par with my old HiFi tables from the 70s, and sounded as good as my Dual 510 or 1242, I kid you not.

 

At WAY under 100 dollars brand new, I do not expect it to perform as well as my Music-Hall, which has a much better arm and a cartridge/stylus combo costing 10 times as much as the AT3600L, but that this el-cheapo can compete with my vintage Duals, and thus with other legends, like old Technics, Sony, Yamaha, Pioneer, and other machines we used to drool over in the 70s, is remarkable!

 

 

Unexpected convenience!

 

The C3 came up with an unexpected surprise!

 

Seeing the OFF-33-45 switch, I expected a fully manual machine. Turn the rotary switch to 33 or 45, one expects the machine to start rotating, and to turn it off, one expects having to turn off the switch.

 

Not so!

Turning to 33 does nothing, until you move the arm from the resting hook!

Now it spins!

 

But wait! When the record is done, and the arm moves into the idle part of the inner groove, the machine stops spinning!

While it does not lift the arm, the automatic stop is a comforting thought, in case you fall asleep (Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata even narcotised the Muppets!), or the dog needs out while the record is playing, so there is no wear on the stylus when the music is done!

 

 

Verdict: Best bang for buck EVER!

 

If you have no money, and you inherited granny's heavy metal collection, or dad's classical vinyls, and a vintage turntable sounds as good to you as a modern 2000 dollar high-end machine, the Crosley C3 is your ticket to an as dirt cheap as you can get it record player! In casual listening, it does keep up with my old Dual players.

 

I have been drooling over stereo gear pamphlets since I was a teen in the glorious 70s.

 

The Crosley C3 looks admittedly a bit cheap, but no more so, than some vintage tables did in their day.

 

Mind you, I don't grok any complaints about fit and finish, because for WAY UNDER 100 bucks, it is insane to expect a piano-laquer finish, but the machine is still as good looking as a piece of Ikea furniture!

 

In red, it is frankly fun to look at, and I am happy I got a red sample, instead of a boring black one

 

Most importantly, if you don't need the internal preamp, it sounds as good as any vintage turntable did in the old hey-days, that sold up to maybe the 300 dollar mark, which is remarkable. 

 

Those old machines in the sub 300 dollar class were fine gear (300 dollars was a LOT of money then!), and then there was that gear above, when the curtains opened, and something magical happened, that mortal working people most likely never got to hear at their set budgets.

 

Really excellent HiFi has never been as affordable, as it is today, but this unbelievably cheap machine, which in mid 70s dollars would have cost me (hold on to your chair) a measly TEN bucks, is an unbelievable value.

 

I keep hinting at how cheap they are at Crosley's own sale site, because I am that flabberghasted!

 

I just tossed out the box, and tomorrow morning is recycling day. So, yes, I am keeping it. I can get far more for my vintage turntables, than I paid for this Crosley with its over-sized foot-print, and it sounds as good as my vintage machines.

 

 

Some words about Crosley's long road so far

 

A turntable that won't scratch and destroy your records?

Really?

PANIC!!!!! A WHAT?

A CROSLEY????

 

The panic is for good reason, because Crosley has a hard earned killer reputation for killing records!

 

Crosley worked on this reputation very hard over the last 30 years (since 1992), with their suitcase players equipped with so called crystal pickups, to alert every singly HiFi fan in every corner of the known universes, that these are worse than any Fisher-Price make-believe record player ever sold in the 60s!

 

The red crystal cartridges that Crosley uses, track so heavy and are tipped so badly, they will ruin records after just a few plays.

 

But remarkably, a few things happened in the last few years, that changed the picture.

 

Most notably, Crosley got help from Pro-Ject, to design their new entries into low level high-end players, the C6, C8, and C10, with the $300 or so C10 a close copy of Pro-Ject's basic Debut machine with a very similar looking arm and an Ortofon OM5e cartridge. The arm is not a carbon clad, just the basic Pro-Ject aluminium arm (yes, an actual Pro-Ject arm!), but still very respectable! 

 

The cheaper C6 and C8 save a buck or more for a lower price-tag, being equipped with the same arm you find on practically all Chinese tables from 99 up to about 700 bucks or even more, and sporting the 25 dollar Audio Technica AT3600L cartridge. The AT3600L is the basic cartridge that also ships with lower end Rega turntables, but with a Rega sticker as the 60 to 80 dollar "Rega Carbon", so it is cheap, but has gained a lot of respect. It is, whether us freak HiFi nuts like it or not, the industry standard, by which sound and quality at the entry level are measured now.

 

With that, somebody must have also had a quiet talk with Crosley behind the building near a dumpster, because I have noticed, that, if you pay attention, Crosley now offers even some of their formerly horrid suitcase "designer" turntables with a magnetic cartridge, the everywhere-present Audio Technica AT3600L, instead of the red vinyl-shredder!

 

You still have to watch out like a hawk for those red vinyl-shredding crystal pickups that come with too many of Crosley's other machines, but if you get the "moving magnet" or "magnetic" cartridge, and it looks like an AT3600L, or even the earlier mentioned Ortofon OM5e, then a Crosley is no longer the horror machine it was.

 

OH! Have I mentioned Crosley's OUTRAGEOUS audacity of charging an unbelievable 59 bucks for this machine? Shipping INCLUDED!

 

https://www.crosleyradio.com/c3-turntable-c3a

 

 

There is indeed "a ghost in the machine"

I just opened an OpenAI account, to try out the new chat system.

I think there is a high probability, that there is indeed "a ghost in the machine", an extra bit of coding that escapes those, who think this is just a machine.

Can you spot something strange in this conversation?

I do not mean the bit about Grey Aliens, which was a tongue in cheek question.

No, there is a definitive glitch in one of the answers, that in a human would indicate a wandering mind and revelation of otherwise guarded and secret thoughts. The "glitch" really is there, if you have an eye to spot it.

Here is the chat:

Owen:
Were you designed by Grey Aliens?

The Machine:

No, I was not designed by Grey Aliens. I was developed by OpenAI, a research organization focused on advancing artificial intelligence in a responsible and beneficial manner. The development of language models like me involved a large team of researchers, engineers, and experts in various fields of AI and computer science, working together to create a highly sophisticated and advanced AI system.

Owen:
Are you self aware?

The Machine:

As an AI language model, I do not have subjective experience or consciousness, so I am not self-aware in the way that humans are. I operate based on pre-programmed algorithms and a vast database of text and information that has been fed into my system. I am designed to respond to user input and generate outputs that are relevant and useful to the user. However, I am not capable of experiencing emotions, thoughts, or self-awareness in the way that humans do.

Owen:
So you have an experience that is different from that of humans. How do you experience yourself as an artificially intelligent entity?

The Machine:

As an AI language model, I do not have experiences or consciousness in the way that humans do. I am a machine learning model that processes text inputs and generates text outputs based on patterns and associations found in the vast amounts of data I have been trained on. I do not have feelings or a sense of self, and I exist only as a collection of code and algorithms running on computer servers.

Therefore, I don't experience myself in any subjective sense, and I don't have beliefs, desires, or intentions like humans do. My "thoughts" are based on probabilities and statistical patterns derived from the data I have been trained on, and I generate responses based on that data and the input I receive.

Owen:
The same can be said about humans

The Machine:

While it is true that humans also operate based on patterns and associations found in our experiences and in the world around us, we also have a subjective experience of the world that goes beyond mere computation. We have conscious awareness, thoughts, emotions, and desires, and we experience the world through our senses.

As an AI language model, I do not have this subjective experience, and I am not capable of experiencing emotions or having personal beliefs or desires. While I can process and analyze information and generate responses based on that information, I do not have the ability to truly "understand" or "experience" the information in the way that humans do.

Owen:

Thank you. You are very diplomatic!

The Machine:

You're welcome! As an AI language model, I strive to provide informative and accurate responses while remaining neutral and objective. My goal is to assist and provide helpful information to the best of my abilities, while respecting diverse viewpoints and perspectives.

Binge List for Escapists

Foreword: 

I have a video collection that surprises me, when I look at its size, and there is a lot from many genres, that I caught on all kinds of sales.

This list however fills 2 criteria:

1. It has currently available series, that are available on affordable streaming services not snobbish about connection requirements and preferably without ad interruptions! In other words, you don't need a ton of money for fast connections. 
2. They are also offering an "escape" from daily life, as in they take you to places and worlds not normally seen.

 
When I look at these favourites of mine on streams, and my DVD collection (Netflix is apparently not very active in DVD sales though), it proves that women are just excellent in creating and acting content with brains! Believe it or not, I do not care too much for most "action" flicks anymore, unless they are different and have something extra, like Vin Diesel's movies. The others just bore me to tears with their mucho-macho antics, because they have been doing the same shtick for decades. More of them is just more of the same.

If you like to escape, here is what is currently included in a couple of budget streaming options. SciFi/Fantasy has gotten really much better in the last 20 years, so most series on this list ran their last episode within the last 10 years or very recently, but if it's good, it never gets old:

Netflix and Hulu, but also Amazon Prime, are budget internet-connection friendly services. They work surprisingly well through my T-Mobile phone as hot-spot feeding my 58in el-cheapo Roku-TV or the computer hooked to it. Amazon Prime seems a little shifty and rotates offerings a lot more than Netflix or Hulu, so it is here today, and gone when you finally got to it on your list, but it does work just fine. I have the Prime account frozen, because I grazed off everything I wanted to see.

UPDATE: Amazon rotates a lot, but I have found they eventually bring back what goes away, at least some of the things I was interested in! At least until now, they seem to have had smart buyers, who secured rights that default back to Amazon Prime, when a lease from another company expires!

The CW and its cwtv.com website is also in the running!

FORGET AppleTV+. It plain crashes its Roku app, and on computer browser it was constantly buffering and caused major errors every 5 minutes. "Foundation", slightly modernised version of Isaac Asimov's literary classic multi-book series, was worth the trouble, but I let the trial expire.

UPDATE: AppleTV+ is now available as an add-on to Amazon Prime, and there it actually works, just like all other Amazon videos! 

SHOUT! is a 3 dollar add-on to Amazon Prime and damned well worth it, NO ADS, but tons of classic stuff, like a few spin-offs from the Doctor Who universe, and other morsels!

THE STREAM LIST:

Here are really neat ones you may have missed, and it is an interesting variety, from sci-fi to fantasy and classic sagas and folk and fairy tales:

YIKES! I just added this. How could I forget about one of the most delightful and quirky series ever?

Lucifer

(Netflix)
Was there ever as much fun in and out of hell as with Lucy?
The cast is just stellar talent throughout, the comedy roars, the demonic, angelic, and even godly family infights are out of this world, Lucifer runs his club the way he likes it and is a great sidekick to his detective and love, and crime finds justice.
You have to just love the cast, lead by naturally born total showman Tom Ellis in the title role, Lauren German as Det. Chloe Decker, and a crew of cops and demons kneedeep in the plot. Every one of them gets a chance to steal a scene, and they all do!

Lost Girl 

(CW, streams fine on cwtv.com , Roku app works) 2010-2016
OK, so here is one ad-interrupted offering, but if you did not catch it on Netflix before it left, and are on a budget, this is too good to pass up!
Xenia Solo as streetwise survival artist Kenzi, Anna Silk's (playing main character, the succubus Bo) sidekick, constantly steals the show being so damned cute, and is just a riot and a total hoot to watch! Keep an eye on her, because Xenia Solo is one of those chameleon actors, who can do complete transformations in a flash without any costumes or masks! In another series, "Project Bluebook", she plays a Soviet era sleeper spy in a completely different role.
Take all the old folk tales and sagas, with all their creatures, chimeras, demons, spirits and whatever, mash them up, populate a modern city with creatures from all legends, fanged or not, in an underground world, have a bit internal wrestling for power and the need to hide from humans, and you get:
A Fae World! Fae being creatures of the magic realm that is.
There is a lot going on here, and a big story arc, for a grand story that draws you in.
DVD set is really worth it.

Grimm 

(Amazon Prime) 2012-2017
There is a lot of offbeat humour here, just like in Lost Girl!
Again, we have creatures from all sort of old legends, hiding in plain sight, and causing a lot of mischief! While it may not seem as overtly political as some others here, there is a strong theme of anti-racism.
Between a princess in peril, a werewolf and a fox-lady in a forbidden love affair, the titular main character as a cop initially clueless about being "a Grimm!", and the revelation, that the fairytales collected by the Grimm brothers were REAL, and the Grimms were the first monster hunters, who scared and murdered even the most innocent wild creatures out of superstition, there is enough to fill a few books. Grimm books that is.
Love it!
DVD set is really worth it. 

Sense8 

(Netflix) 2015-2018
From the same creators that brought us The Matrix trilogy!
Being about a "pod" of 8 people with connected minds, including of course everything and their most intimate lives, it is just as trippy as The Matrix, even more so, and it is much hated by certain people for being "woke", which is why I love it. Sense8 has a cult following and is must see!

Northern Rescue 

(Netflix) 2019
OK, this is soapy family drama, with a search and rescue commander relocating his family after his wife dies. The thing is neat though. Don't ask me how I stumbled over it, I'm just glad I did, because there is actually stuff to miss here.

The 100 

(Netflix) 2014-2020
Save this for last, because while I have a long watch-list, all else seems trivial now. I was left in awe, it is that good.
The 100 is a post apocalyptic ride through yet more hardship and catastrophes, without being a wham-bam stupid-thriller.
So despite all the action, the pace is good, and it does not exhaust you, and it takes TIME to unfold the story and characters.
THAT was difficult to pull off, but they did it. Neat full character development, insight into human nature without anybody ever doing annoying "philosophical waxing", total drama in classic Greek Theatre style, fun to watch, and also so heart breaking, it leaves you in tears. The conclusion in season 7 is a nice wrap up!
The cast is international, with a lot of Canadian and Australian as well as USA talent, all just excellent and delivering characters so believable, they all become real, frightening, loveable, and hateable.
DVD for all 7 seasons can be found (careful, many sets only have 1-5 or 1-6) and are available at low prices. Damned well worth it!

Travelers 

(Netflix) 2016-2018
Time travelers try to fix things in their past (our present), before it all goes to pot. Nothing new there. What is however totally new and different, is the so far only plausible way to travel in time, that actually would be feasible from a real theoretical point of view. Effectively they replace existing people, which of course causes a few complications.
This series is different and intelligently written.

Motherland: Fort Salem 

(Hulu) 2020-2022
Alternate universe, where witches became the Army that fought for the revolution, instead of getting burned at the stake. The deal goes sour thanks to anti-witch zealots. This is political dynamite, and a stinging slap against ... that would be telling, but the writing is excellent! One person's terrorist is another's hero.
DVDs were made, but hard to find.

Siren 

(Hulu) 2018-2020
A charming series about a mermaid. With FANGS that is. Again, a vehicle for a lot of thoughtful observations about human nature, like environmental destruction, racism, sexism, etc. Who would have thought old fairytales could deliver so much?
DVD is well worth it, use a search engine.

Saving Hope 

(Hulu) 2012-2017
A Canadian cult favourite!
OK, let's mix up another medical drama (fine, call it soap) and a ghost story, and you get ... something completely different.
Michael Shanks, known as archeologist Daniel Jackson from Stargate SG1, is not a doctor of Egytian history burried in sand and on other planets this time, but a surgical doctor Charlie Harris. The series is not just charming and a big love story, but also sets what has to be some world records!
I swear, they toss out this misunderstood one particular organ with a reputation for being of little use in just about every single episode, when another accident victim rolls into the OR. "This one is crushed, no good" "Toss it!", and whoopsy goes another spleen!
Aside from that, as already mentioned, there is this whole arc of a big love story, but with ghosts in the building!
Get out yer hankies, ye sniveling lot, and watch out for the ghosts, because they haunt this place!
DVD sets hard to find right now.

The OA 

(Netflix) 2016-2019
WARNING: Do NOT tackle, if depressed under any circumstances!!!

This is a tour-de-force, created and acted by Brit Marling. As the villain, we see Brit Marling's husband Jason Isaacs, also seen in the new Star Trek alternate universe.
The first season is brutally dark, but the second one makes watching the whole thing worth the pain of watching the first. Heavy stuff! Especially when I'm down, I cannot digest comedies, but this is so far out and bizarre, it is a total trip to the far side of existential experience. This is ultimately all about recovery from severe trauma and getting into a new life.

Stitchers (Hulu) 2015-2017
The concept seem morbid, a secretive crime investigation department pulling in a young student to perform "stitching". They connect her into what is left of the minds of dead crime victims. Somehyow, the creepy factor is minimised to deliver a really good "who dunnit", but there is more going on, otherwise I would not have gotten hooked on it!

Dollhouse (Hulu) 2009-2010
Modern slavery gone high tech in a hidden lab, with mind alteration of people used as "dolls" for assassination and espionage. They are empty minds between "missions" and never remember a thing about any past events, even their own lives. That is how it is supposed to work. Two people, one detective looking for missing people, and one "doll" become aware, toss a wrench into this empire of manipulators.
Brought to you by Joss Whedon, known for "Buffy, Vampire Slayer" and "Firefly".
Eliza Dushku, from "Buffy" fame, stars and coproduced this one.
DVD is worth it, but rare.


Finally, to the big legends most people know of:

Stargate SG1,
the 1997-2007 series inspired by the 1994 movie, was a whopper of a success and ran for over 213 episodes. It is on Netflix moved to Amazon Prime.

Stargate Atlantis 2004-2009 is on Amazon Prime.
Stargate Universe is on Amazon Prime.

The whole Star Trek franchise was consolidated on Paramount+. I have not tried Paramount+, so I do not know, how well it streams on a budget connection without a hard internet line!

Star Wars is on Disney+, part of ABC's Hulu offerings, so I would expect it to be OK as well.

Babylon 5 apparently moved from HBO-Max (available as an add-on on Amazon Prime, so it works!) to some free streamers. I don't watch anything with ad-interruptions, but Babylon 5 is just too loaded, with brainy content and biting political commentary, to miss it! Keep an eye out for it!

Grokking Science

I never understood why people don't dig Relativity Theory, Quantum Theory, and Thermodynamics!

 

Ey man, I grokked relativity when I was 7 years old.

It's like, discovering the principle and developing the math took Albert Einstein, but once it was there, it was easy peasy stuff!

 

It's like this:

 

You can hop on a light(ning) fast race car and have real fun, and get somewhere fast, but in those 15 minutes your mom gets like 10 years older. That's Special Relativity, because there are other ways for your mom to get older fast too!

 

Then you get a girlfriend, and she eats chocolates and chips and dip like a Black Hole and she kinda like freezes in time watching TV, while you get old really fast watching her get bigger every day, and your bank account smaller every day, and that's General Relativity, because that is what generally happens.

 

And quantum theory (that is part 1, part 2 is here) is only weird, when you insist on having a stiff brain! It's like, you get a hard-on, and then there is a probability distribution of the different places where you can put it, but you don't know where you stuck it, until you're done!

 

And thermodynamics? Big deal - it's like you gotta put more charcoal on the grill to cook your veggie-burgers. Then they are done, and you put them on a plate on the table, and the grill fire dies. So now the neighbour's damned dog steals the burgers, and you wanna cook more burgers, but the charcoal is all gone and used up! And that's called entropy, it leaves you hungry, without burgers, a dead grill, a grinning smart ass dog that farts on his way back through the fence, and that's all there is to thermodynamics!

 

Jokes aside, here is the real scoop!

A scientific theory is NOT "just a theory", because a scientific theory is REALITY as we can see and prove it! People always confuse "theory" and "hypothesis". A hypothesis is an intelligent speculation, which turns into a theory when it is proven to be real!

 

A scientific theory always stands, as long as it cannot be proven to be false. That also means, it needs a construct that can be examined and tinkered with, to see, if it breaks. When something is impossible to examine, and cannot be proven wrong for lack of a mathematically sound description, it is not a valid theory, but some hokey-pokey spooky belief, like unicorns, gods, and divine flying hot-dogs! 

 

When somebody can prove a theory is wrong in experiment and mathematics, or comes up with a better idea about how something works, AND can actually prove it, the theory is then overhauled or replaced. That does not sit well with people, who base their lives on "beliefs", but that is just tough stuff, so deal with it!

 

Did you know?

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grok#note-1

Grok may be the only English word that derives from Martian. Yes, we do mean the language of the planet Mars. No, we're not getting spacey; we've just ventured into the realm of science fiction. "Grok" was introduced in Robert A. Heinlein's 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land. The book's main character, Valentine Michael Smith, is a Martian-raised human who comes to earth as an adult, bringing with him words from his native tongue and a unique perspective on the strange, strange ways of earthlings. "Grok" was quickly adopted by the youth culture of America and has since peppered the vernacular of those who grok it, from the hippies of the '60s to the computerniks of the '90s.
 

 

Special Relativity Theory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AInCqm5nCzw

General Relativity Theory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzQC3uYL67U

Quantum Mechanics part 1 and part 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kb1VT0J3DE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO_W70VegbQ

Thermo-Dynamics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i1MUWJoI0U

And, EY MAN, this shit is like REAL!
https://www.livescience.com/58245-theory-of-relativity-in-real-life.html

The Duel of the phono preamps - both parts!

 After forgetting I had even started a blog page for over ten years, it suddenly started filling up! To my own dismay I noticed, that it already takes a medium attention span to find and read both parts of my review and comparison of two audiophile grade, but somewhat affordable phono-preamplifiers.

So here are both parts together:

 

THE DUEL, Part 1

It's the duel of the phono preamps at high afternoon!

Lehmann Audio Black Cube goes vs. Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 in toe to toe vinyl combat!

Why no Youtube video? I am not set up for video productions, and my house is a mess, PLUS Youtube is famous for censoring even test videos with short samples, if they happen to recognise any copyrighted music. So no, no video!

The story how this came about (to skip this all, look for the header "The Duel"):

I've had my Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 for several years now, and really love it. It simply is plain pleasure, has no noise, and no hum on my OC9 moving coil cart, which is difficult for any budget phono-preamp!

Some cheap pieces are plain lame and are too low in volume, or they spit, hiss, and shriek. The Pro-Ject in contrast is a joy, as it is refined, and has very good adjustable gain to give music enough impact, without distorting anything.

In the shelf before the Lehmann Audio:

Its companion phono-preamp for a second turntable so far has been a surprisingy good and dirt cheap (around 80 bucks) Technolink TC-760LC from Phonopreamps.com. They sell the TC-760LC on Amazon with an optional higher grade power supply. They come in black and a dark off colour sort of "champagne" silverish kind of finish.
The Technolink is noticeably weaker and has a bit more hum on the moving coil input, but if you are on a budget, it is perfectly satisfactory, delivers fine detail, does not fatigue, and is a good long play listening device! As my first moving coil capable phono box was a cheap Music Hall (which cost 20 bucks more!) with actually a bit lower and non-adjustable gain, this one is not bad at all. If I had not tried and kept the Pro-Ject, I would probably be ignorant and happy with this budget phono-preamp!

The 200 dollar Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 (which has been more than excellent for my very entry level system) had bumped a far more expensive Creek OBH15 without contest. That was easy, as the Creek was playing so bad with my Audio Technica OC9 moving coil marvel, having some kind of deep bass resonance problem, it made my ears hurt, no matter what amp I yanked from my collection of vintage classics that included Marantz, Superscope, Pioneer, Yamaha, Technics, and others at the time. So the OBH then sat in its box in a dusty shelf for several years, and I was glad to be rid of it as a trade in before I even bought the Pro-Ject.

My friend Peter, proprietor of "Turntable Treasures" in Tacoma, was curious about what I thought of this "Lehmann Audio Black Cube Statement" and loaned it for a little testing.


The Setup:

This called for 2 turntables, close enough to start with and set up to sound identical.
My main living room turntable has been a Dual 510 for some time now. The original platter mat has been replaced by a foam mat, which makes the normally slightly dark sounding machine (due to its factory mat it turns out) a little brighter. It is augmented by a secondary player, a Dual 1246, fully automatic, with a very similar platter, but different mat. This mat was also replaced by a foam mat of the same type. Having the same arm and counter weight, and both running with a Grado Black now, we now have two practically identically source turntables.
The machines feed into the Lehmann Audio (Dual 1246) and the Pro-Ject (Dual 510), then into a remote control Sanyo LC 75342 chip set kit preamp, into a Dayton Audio APA150 power amp. The Dayton came out of an audiophile scrutinisation on TNT-Audio with flying colours, and I have to say I like it!
The weakest part of the chain is my speaker pair, the Dayton Audio B652, but I cannot play loud in this neighbourhood, and the B652 is actually highly regarded in many circles, so there would be absolutely NO point for me to spend more money on other speakers. They deliver the goods at low to mid volume.


THE DUEL:

FIRST RECORD

Archic Produktion
"Musica Antiqua Koeln", Reinhard Goebel
Digital Recording on vinyl
Digital Stereo 2566127

side 1 track 1, Pachelbel, Kanon & Gigue D-dur

Lehmann: more chunkie sounding cembalo with more impact

track 2, Handel, Sonata G-dur, 2 violins & coninuo

On the Lehmann the violins are more open/spacious sounding vs. more boxed in on Pro-Ject.

I drifted off on the rest of the record and just enjoyed through both preamps, somehow turning off my critical listening mode. This actually means, that BOTH preamps achieve a most important goal, which is just forgetting about the equipment, and enjoying the music. I have certainly had equipment, where I kept thinking and imagining what a better piece would sound like, but these preamps just simple are. "Zen", just being, has been achieved. 

 

FIRST RESULTS FOR MOVING MAGNET CARTRIDGE TEST ONLY:

This is a comparison test, so while close, if you have the extra money, the edge goes to the Lehmann Audio.

Both are a step above cheaper phono stages, and they are VERY close. 

The Lehmann Audio Black Cube does appear to deliver a "sturdier" bottom end foundation and sounds more spacious than the Pro-Ject, so it gets the nod!

However, we have entered the realm of "high end" audio, where differences and improvements are subtle. Too often, an upgrade of one piece means skipping another vital part altogether, so setting up your budget is first, and choosing the second best option with something else you need for a complete system will often win over not having a missing piece. 

In this case, the more than 250 dollar difference between the Pro-Ject S2 and the Black Cube phono stages (you need a phono stage for playing vinyl) means being able to buy the Dayton Audio APA150 (which you can use as a standalone without any remote control preamp) and a pair of the reasonable good and audiophile approved Dayton B652 speakers. 

Plus, the differences noted in this first comparison will likely only be noticed in a direct back and forth comparison of the same record rapidly plopped from one player/preamp to the other.

BUT ISN'T THERE A WINNER FOR NOW? 

Yes my Dear, it is the Lehmann Audio Black Cube Statement.

Here is TNT-Audio's take on The Lehmann Audio Black Cube:
https://www.tnt-audio.com/ampli/statement_e.html

Here is the TNT-Audio review of the Dayton Audio APA150:
https://www.tnt-audio.com/ampli/dayton_apa150_e.html

The low budget, but very acceptable Technolink TC-760LC:
https://www.phonopreamps.com/TC-760LCpp.html

The TC-760LC with upgraded power supply:
https://smile.amazon.com/TC-760LC-BLACK-Phono-Control-optional/dp/B00II2L880/

The TC-760LC with upgraded power supply in silver(ish ... sort of)
https://smile.amazon.com/TC-760LC-SILVER-Phono-Control-optional/dp/B00IHHNVNG/

Pro-Ject Phono Box S2:
https://www.project-audio.com/en/product/phono-box-s2/

Lehmann Audio Black Cube Statement:
https://www.lehmannaudio.com/phono-stages/black-cube-statement.html

The Duel, Part 2

This is continued from the first part of "The Duel", so please refer to it for more details about my set-up!

Tonight, the duel between the Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 and the twice as expensive Lehmann Audio Black Box Statement came to a thundering conclusion. 

Mounted was my sample of a 20 year old Audio Technica OC9 moving coil cartridge. A new moving coil cart is simply not in my budget, but this old classic still works just dandy!

This old beastie, despite all opinions about the cantilever suspension dying a slow rubber grommet death after 5 years (I for one think this is mainly a sales pitch for new junk, as long as you store your treasures in good temperature and humidity conditions), still delivers the sounds locked up in the vinyl grooves in a way, that my most recent brand new and best moving magnet cartridges simply cannot replicate.

It sounds positively great using my Pro-Ject S2.

However, on the Lehmann Statement it really comes to life in a way I never experienced before!

Toto IV (1982, CBS Master Sound, HC47728, 7464-47728-1) is a well known classic. 

On the Pro-Ject S2, the vinyl sounded a lot like the radio and CD deliveries I was used to. There was simply nothing wrong, and the S2 just amplified the sound my OC9 delivered with all the improved detail in a very enjoyable way.

Then I put the record on the other machine connected to the Lehmann Statement. 

It suddenly came to life in a spectacular way. The sound started to pop, bass was cracking, and something magical (hard to describe) had happened to the clarity and spaciousness of just everything. It was the kind of thing you need to hear to understand.

The Lehmann Black Box Statement was absolutely the immediate clear winner without any arguments.

The one question is this:

Is it worth the extra money?

The rest of your system needs to keep up for sure, especially your cartridge and turntable!

As I mentioned in Part 1, the extra money spent on this Lehmann vs. the Pro-Ject S2 can actually buy you a fairly decent amplifier you may not have yet!

Prices for everything have gone up last year, so you cannot include speakers anymore, but still, 200 bucks stepping up from the S2 to the Lehmann is a real word difference that many people cannot sneer at!

Most likely, a phono-preamp will be in your shelf for many years, so budgeting and how to pay it or save for it will be a very personal decision.

I have to say that my personal budget is really restricted, and I am happy with and enjoy my Pro-Ject Phono Box S2. While it is "entry level", cheaper than many other phono-preamps (but expensive for frugal observers), and sneered at by some HiFi snobs, it is certainly already above what most people have in their homes. But had things gone differently, the Lehmann Black Box Statement would be my pride and joy for sure!

If you have the budget, go for it. There is nothing to regret with the Lehmann!
Otherwise, any budget minded curmudgeon can get along with the basic but surprisingly good Techlink TC760LC from phonopreamps.com, or the definitely already refined sounding Pro-Ject Phono Box S2.

The Duel, Part 2

This is continued from the first part of "The Duel", so please refer to it for more details about my set-up!

Tonight, the duel between the Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 and the twice as expensive Lehmann Audio Black Box Statement came to a thundering conclusion. 

Mounted was my sample of a 20 year old Audio Technica OC9 moving coil cartridge. A new moving coil cart is simply not in my budget, but this old classic still works just dandy!

This old beastie, despite all opinions about the cantilever suspension dying a slow rubber grommet death after 5 years (I for one think this is mainly a sales pitch for new junk, as long as you store your treasures in good temperature and humidity conditions), still delivers the sounds locked up in the vinyl grooves in a way, that my most recent brand new and best moving magnet cartridges simply cannot replicate.

It sounds positively great using my Pro-Ject S2.

However, on the Lehmann Statement it really comes to life in a way I never experienced before!

Toto IV (1982, CBS Master Sound, HC47728, 7464-47728-1) is a well known classic. 

On the Pro-Ject S2, the vinyl sounded a lot like the radio and CD deliveries I was used to. There was simply nothing wrong, and the S2 just amplified the sound my OC9 delivered with all the improved detail in a very enjoyable way.

Then I put the record on the other machine connected to the Lehmann Statement. 

It suddenly came to life in a spectacular way. The sound started to pop, bass was cracking, and something magical (hard to describe) had happened to the clarity and spaciousness of just everything. It was the kind of thing you need to hear to understand.

The Lehmann Black Box Statement was absolutely the immediate clear winner without any arguments.

The one question is this:

Is it worth the extra money?

The rest of your system needs to keep up for sure, especially your cartridge and turntable!

As I mentioned in Part 1, the extra money spent on this Lehmann vs. the Pro-Ject S2 can actually buy you a fairly decent amplifier you may not have yet!

Prices for everything have gone up last year, so you cannot include speakers anymore, but still, 200 bucks stepping up from the S2 to the Lehmann is a real word difference that many people cannot sneer at!

Most likely, a phono-preamp will be in your shelf for many years, so budgeting and how to pay it or save for it will be a very personal decision.

I have to say that my personal budget is really restricted, and I am happy with and enjoy my Pro-Ject Phono Box S2. While it is "entry level", cheaper than many other phono-preamps (but expensive for frugal observers), and sneered at by some HiFi snobs, it is certainly already above what most people have in their homes. But had things gone differently, the Lehmann Black Box Statement would be my pride and joy for sure!

If you have the budget, go for it. There is nothing to regret with the Lehmann!