[analog97]

Just saw an ad for an $1,800 machine that claims to demagnetize records.  I have some skepticism of this, perhaps due to limited understanding.  How can vinyl become magnetized?  Does anyone have an explanation?  Is this pure vapor? 

[KBK]

The way I view it is this:

I'd never turn down the chance to hear what it does. If I hear it doing something, then I'll be forced to figure  out the specifics of the situation. This may require a fairly decent amount of time with one, until the real 'action' of the unit rears it's head from the morass of potentialities.

But I'd never buy one. I'd first figure out exactly what it is doing..and replicate that-instead.

In lieu of hearing it, I'd take a shot at the ole' discwasher 'Zerostat' instead.

If forced to speculate, I'd wager it's an issue of electrostatic charge providing a slight 'edge' to the sonics. I'd also wager it's noted before/after differences rear their head best on low output MC's. Specifically in low humidity conditions.

Which is why my taking a shot at an old Zerostat, first.

[lonewolfny42]

There is a thread about it .....here...the Vinyl Circle.....

[hagtech]

The vinyl isn't what becomes magnetized.  It would be the impurities or contaminations (of which there are not supposed to be).   The furutech is a degaussing machine, which means it is designed to re-align any magnetic moments in the material to a null state.  That is, randomly organized such that they cancel each other out on a macro scale.

Just don't let the machine get too close to your cartridge.  Or watch.  Or pacemaker.

Personally, I am a bit skeptic of this one, although I have not heard it.  The claims (I read somewhere) were that it reduced residual magnetism by a very small amount.  Like only 10%.  And even then I got the impression they were just measuring the Earth's magnetic field without knowing it.  But hey, from a marketing standpoint, this is exactly the kind of machine that sells. 

We need to hear from someone who has tried it.

jh