Demagnatizing Phono Cartridges

I have no problems with various opinion, theory, etc. That's what these forums are about. I am a physicist, solid state undergrad training, so I know a bit about the theory--although it sounds like your friend has far more experience than I do. I will still stand behind a difference in clarity after I demagnetize, although now that I do it regularly the difference is much less. Although the configuration is completely different--the principle is not unlike deqaussing a CRT. Instead of the coils it is the grid for the electron gun in the CRT that is being deqaussed. If you do it rarely, it makes a pretty big difference in image quality--if you do it regularly, you can hardly notice a difference.

I'm going to stick to my analog ritual. I think it works--but I buy expensive cables too (electrical engineers don't think much of that either).

van den Hul says that demagnitizing a cartridge, at least with Fluxbuster type devices, ruins them over the long haul. Does anyone know why?

Many cartridge manufacturer's say DON'T use an electronic cartridge demagnetizer. Having purchased a Koetsu RSP through our Tokyo office, I got an email to Mr. Shugano. He is strongly against them. Of course, there is some degradation of the permanent magnet when you use an electronic demagnetizer. There is just a great deal of disagreement as to how much the degradation is. I only use the Cardas Sweep Disc now.

I have an interesting question. If the coil wire is, say, copper, how does it get magnetized? Same with silver. I thought these metals to be non-magnetic.

Good point, Woodrow...

In any case, I have periodically demagnetized my cartridges using an Audioquest demagnetizer, most recently a Glider, and have to admit that I heard very little, if any, difference in the sound.