Sumiko Flux Buster Demagnetizer

Whether needed or not, I don’t think degaussing a SUT could harm it.

I meant to add that I do not mean to rain on anyone's parade who hears a benefit from fluxbusting.  Go for it, carefully.

Mijostyn, Dover’s question was whether SUTs with iron or iron alloy cores could become magnetized, contrary to my blanket assertion that SUTs don’t become magnetized. I relayed this question to Dave Slagle by email, and Dave responded with a lengthy and detailed explanation. He also gave me permission to use his words. I need only quote his first four sentences:

"In a SUT we use soft magnetic materials which are specifically alloyed and annealed to be easily magnetized and demagnetized. These materials do have remanence which is the amount that it remains magnetized after a unidirectional signal is applied. So while technically the core can become slightly magnetized, the nature of the beast is it can also be easily magnetized."

So I was not completely correct in my original assertion that "SUTs don’t become magnetized", but Dave would say (and said in his email) that SUTs do not merit degaussing.

cleeds, If you have been demagnetizing MM cartridges, it is a minor miracle that you have not yet perceptibly damaged one, since most would agree it is dangerous to the magnet, much more so than with an MC cartridge.

By the way, you gotta love the word "remanence". Use it at parties.

Dover, you raise a good question, and perhaps I was flippant in making that claim, since I was thinking of nickel and other metals that are not iron-ish.  But I also think it is that even if the core does magnetize while the SUT is in use, it does not hang on to the magnetism when shut down.  Ergo, no need to demagnetize. Dave Slagle would be the ultimate authority on that.

Seems gravity has to do with time dilation due to mass of earth. Who woulda thunkit?

Good question.  I have no idea how it works.  But Stan Ricker says his LP demagnetizes  on (as I recall) cuts 2a, b, and c on side A.  I am guilty of believing Stan Ricker.  I have wondered how it would work, but not as much as I wonder about other things that occupy my time, like how Einstein's concept of the gravitational force compares to Newton's. Ergo, I have not investigated Ricker's rationale. I do know that the cuts contain rapid excursions of frequency, from low to high, repeated in succession. And cartridges that have been out of use for a week or more definitely benefit, but that could be as much due to exercising the suspension as from any demag effect.

It’s not “audio law” at all. It’s physics of the metals used to build SUT cores. I forgot to mention that I personally prefer to demagnetize LOMCs using a test LP, which I don’t think can damage the cartridge magnets. Cardas test LP, for one example. I see that I and the OP both use the Cardas LP. It also gives the suspension a nice workout before it plays music. Therefore I cannot separate the demag effect from the exercise effect, but there is a benefit.

With LOMC you certainly have to be careful and know how n advance your doing it in a way that won’t do damage. With a SUT, it’s mental masturbation; SUTs don’t become magnetized.