Hi-Fi Tuning Disk Demagnatizer??

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Randy the Hat, Nov 21, 2014.

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  1. Randy the Hat

    Randy the Hat Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I just got my Music Direct 15 catalogs,it has one on page 74 I've never heard of such a thing .
    First off I'm not a good poster, but do like reading about cool stuff , I doubt I be getting
    a Demagnatizer any time soon. Im close to 60 years of life and a ringing in my ears,
    when I drive I listen to music through sennheiser momentum at this time, ther a little
    harsh on the high's for me. Looking forward to seeing everyone posts. I just found this great
    site this week. Randy
     
  2. F1nut

    F1nut Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Mars Hotel
    Considering that standard CD's are made from aluminum, there is nothing to demagnetize. Not to mention that many transports use magnetic clamping to secure the disc with the spindle.

    Don't get me wrong, there are any number of tweaks that work, but that one......ummm, no.
     
  3. DigMyGroove

    DigMyGroove Forum Resident

    I can attest from experience that demagnetizing CDs and vinyl with a standard cassette tape deck head demagnetizer has an incredible effect on the sonics. I had read with interest about the various expensive tools and equipment to be had that perform this task, and while intrigued would never spend that kind of money for such a purpose. It occurred to me that I might try my old tape head demagnetizer and see if it had any effect, well it sure did!

    In most cases demagnetizing lifts a veil, there's a greatly improved clarity and realism to the recording. Particularly welcome is suddenly hearing detail that was somehow muffled or barely noticeable before. I don't understand the physics that cause this to occur, but I'm happy to be the beneficiary just for performing this easy task with a cheap device.

    Overall this simple task of waving the demagnetizer over the disc at about 1/4" to 1/2" distance makes a huge difference to the sound. I move the demagnetizer from the center to the outter rim, back and forth while slowly moving clockwise, I repeat this around three times.

    You will find the greatest difference in CDs with fully screened graphics on the info side. It's the metals in the ink that pick up the magnetism, the denser the coverage, especially if it's black ink, the greater the difference in sonics following the demagnetizing. As the previous poster indicated, the act of playing the CD adds magnetism which is why you need to demagnetize before each play. For vinyl records it's the carbon that's the culprit. Vinyl is clear, it's the carbon black that adds the magnetizing to the record. Clear and red vinyl are not affected the same way. I've found I do not need to demagnetize vinyl before each play. Once A record has been demagnetized the positive effects last for a while.

    I know there are a great many skeptics out there about this issue, and if someone were telling me I needed to spend $300 or $2000 to achieve better sonics through demagnetizing I too would feel the same. But you can achieve the result with a $15 tape head demagnetizing tool, for such a small amount of money surely it's worth a try?
     
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  4. dnuggett

    dnuggett Forum Resident

    Location:
    DFW Texas
    Two posts two different absolute answers. No. Yes.
    OP just go try it and tell us your experience.
     
  5. ocd1

    ocd1 Well-Known Member

    Location:
    homosassa,fl. usa
    I've used a heavy duty radio shack tape demagnetizer for years. Powerful device. Cds only but I might try it on LP's. It seems to help w cds but who knows? Cheap tweak to play with.
     
    Darksolstice likes this.
  6. Quiet Earth

    Quiet Earth Forum Resident

    I have a similar unit, the Acoustic Revive RD-3. Yes, it does indeed make a small but noticeable improvement on many of my CDs. The CDs that I have played the most seem to show the most improvement, as well as CDs that have a lot of ink on the label. The demag process seems to relax the whole sonic presentation just s little bit, but it is especially noticeable on cymbals and brass. It just sounds a little more natural to me. My CD transport has a magnetic puck and that doesn't seem to affect or reverse the process.

    Now, having said that, I wouldn't buy one to cure a bad sounding CD player. Buy one as an accessory to an already great sounding CD player, then you will appreciate it. Also, I have no experience with a bulk demagnetizer on CDs. I would imagine that the results of a bulk demagnetizer will be much less consistent since there is too much user variability involved.
     
    Randy the Hat likes this.
  7. Barnabas Collins

    Barnabas Collins Senior Member

    Location:
    NH
  8. DigMyGroove

    DigMyGroove Forum Resident

    The poster who makes the blanket "No" comment while entitled to his opinion of course is typical of those who choose not to believe this works or to even check it out for themselves. As I wrote, for $15 try it out, for hundreds or thousands of dollars, hold on to your money!
     
  9. Hipper

    Hipper Forum Resident

    Location:
    Herts., England
    Does that mean that running a magnet over a CD will damage the sound?
     
  10. Wngnt90

    Wngnt90 Forum Resident

    Oh yeah....that will mess them right up! Honestly....give me a fr.....in' break!
     
  11. Darksolstice

    Darksolstice Forum Resident

    Location:
    Murfreesboro Tn
    I use a radio shack bulk tape demagnetizer for about 30 seconds on a LP before and the difference in phenomenal !!
     
  12. Randy the Hat

    Randy the Hat Forum Resident Thread Starter

     
  13. Randy the Hat

    Randy the Hat Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Thank you for a very detailed post
     
  14. harby

    harby Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR, USA
    Yes, reading about the item, it is actually advertised as a demagnetizer for CDs: http://www.musicdirect.com/p-9686-hifi-tuning-disc-demagnetizer.aspx :crazy:

    I can't tell if someone's just taking the piss here with these silly follow-up comments or if they are being serious(ly deluded). The CD-ROM in my computer will read the same and identical data bits every single time off a disc, and the transports in audio players are often the same as computer drives. You might as well demagnetize a light switch for a more aesthetically pleasing light from your lamp while you are at it.

    AC magnetic fields will induce eddy currents in the conductive reflective material, but they will not hold any magnetism. Even if they did, I defy you to explain how that would affect the laser reader, which has it's own voice coils for positioning, with fields magnitudes stronger than would be induced even if you were to glue charged floppy disk media to a CD.

    If you would like to see the effects of high magnitude electrical currents on CDs, you can pop one in the microwave for 30 seconds.
     
    Randy the Hat likes this.
  15. Gary

    Gary Nauga Gort! Staff

    Location:
    Toronto
    Whenever this subject reappears, I always wonder what happened to my cassette tape head demagnetizer....
     
    robertawillisjr likes this.
  16. DigMyGroove

    DigMyGroove Forum Resident

  17. robertawillisjr

    robertawillisjr Music Lover

    Location:
    Hampton, VA
    I bought one of these on sale a few years ago. It does work. I haven't noticed a big difference; I would say that the difference is a cut above subtle. It works well enough that I used it before each play. Now that I rip CDs, I use it beforehand (no I don't AB them).

    I was told that the company no longer manufactures these.
     
  18. DigMyGroove

    DigMyGroove Forum Resident

    Plenty of these seem to be available via Ebay Which is where I bought one when my original from the 70's stopped working.
     
  19. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    Seriously?


    I have a han-d-mag, a professional degaussing device which is intended for studio use. It is many times stronger than any cheap radio shack demag device and probably also stronger than this audiophile schlock.


    Would anyone like me to perform a proper experiment? I'd be willing to use one of the very magnetized discs from any one of your collections. I will conduct it following the conventions of the scientific method as close as possible.
     
  20. Tyler Eaves

    Tyler Eaves Forum Resident

    Location:
    Greenville, NC
    A felt tipped marker is much cheaper snake oil.
     
  21. jfeldt

    jfeldt Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF, CA, USA
    What would the experiment consist of that you propose?
     
  22. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY

    It would consist of reading the data from the disc twice; once before redbook-voodoo is performed and once after. The digital samples will then be compared one by one for any difference. For there to be an audible difference there has to be a change in the data actually contained on the disc.
     
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  23. jfeldt

    jfeldt Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF, CA, USA
    That would be insufficient since that experiment throws away the any time-based aspects. We listen to music through time.

    What about an experiment that records the analog out out a CD player while playing one track of a CD, treating the CD, then playing it again, recording the analog out again, and comparing your before and after recordings?

    If you wanted to stay all digital, a different experiment could be to look at jitter spectrum at the digital output of a CD transport before treating the CD while playing something like a test tone, record that data, then treat the CD, play the test tone track again, and record that jitter spectrum again and compare the two.

    It would be awesome if you don't mind doing one of my two suggested experiments, that would be some rad science.
     
  24. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    The experiments you've noted are more along the lines of testing the effects of magnetism on playback equipment.


    The aim of the experiment is to test the effects of magnetism on the disc, as the device is marketed with the intention of removing residual magnetism from the disc to derive better sound from the disc.


    To derive different sound from the disc, better or worse, the data being read from the disc and passed to the converter must be different, and my proposed test is perfectly adequate for recording, organizing, and comparing the data being read from disc. Sample by sample, sector by sector.
     
  25. Paul Chang

    Paul Chang Forum Old Boy, Former Senior Member Has-Been

    I think I still have it stored somewhere in my house. Using it improperly to erase cassette tapes will leave low frequency whomps on the tapes. I wonder if it will do the same on vinyl records.
     
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