How often do you demagnitize your MC cartridge?

It so happens that the manufacturers of the lyra cartridges are "engineers". They recommend demagnetizing of MC cartridges periodically. I do mine at most twice per year.

In any event, I am basing my statements on observations not "hear-say" as some would have it.

Marakanetz, since you are throwing stones: it might serve you well to look at your initial contribution to this thread. It is certainly not in keeping with what an "engineer" would write. Statement such as "The cartridge normally must be magnetized...." is trite at best.

YA Baby!! (said in a Austin Powers inflection of course)

Copper is not a magnetizable material. It cannot become magnetized. The coils in a cartridge are made of copper, usually very high purity. The magnetic action that acts on the copper coils is an inductive process that does not result in any "permanent" magnetization of the copper. It simply induces a current in the copper coils in an electromagnetic process like a generator. Copper is not a material that can become magnetized. Copper transformer windings don't become magnetized, copper speaker voice coils don't become magnetized, copper commutators in generators and alternators don't become magnetized, and copper coils in cartridges don't become magnetized.

Why would there be a need to de-magnetize something that is not magnetized in the first place? Now, maybe there is something else around the cartridge, like the screws or other hardware that can become magnetized, but not the coils.

Tom, you forgot to mention magnets that are present in both MC and MM cartridges otherwise there will be no emf i.e. electro-magnetic force.

Gmorris,

Lyra Helikon manufacturers quote the following:

The Lyra Helikon uses a polepiece-less magnetic system. The signal coils operate in a magnetic field created directly by two powerful, precisely shaped disc magnets of nearly equal size, mounted fore and aft of the coil gap - in the simplest and purest manner possible.

I'd say proceed with your ehem... confidence of demagnetizing I guess these valuable magnets that is a part of cartridge's structure and continue to trust ehem... "engineers"(I guess from the Immedia distributor domain).