Can magnets permanently damage CRTs?

A long time ago I set a raw car speaker on top of my television. I didn't think much of it until a few days later the picture was looking a little strange...not extremely noticeable...but different...the colors were a bit off.

When I picked the speaker up off the set...BAM...the colors were all out of wack...completely...not to mention the "stretching" of the picture.

Luckily...a good friend was an EE and explained to me that the picture had "aligned" itself with the magnet and within a few days it would realign itself.

He was right...after a few days...it was back to normal.

Can magnets damage a CRT: yes.
Do most fix themselves: yes.
Most modern CRT's automatically 'degauss' at turnon. Your old screen may not have that feature.
A large looped wire with at least six loops with an AC current flowing in it will fix your screen.
You can use a LONG extension cord and make it into a perfect circle 20" diameter. At least six loops, better ten, and let it be in use running some big current draw item.
the loops should be rigid!! use a coathanger wire as a form.
Take this contraption and bring it (while powered) near you TV screen.. moved it slowly!! slowly around and around the turned on TV screen. VERY close! 1 inch away. Then slowly very slowly move the coil away from the screen while both have current running through them. DO NOT TURN OFF THE COIL NEAR THE SCREEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This should fix the worst old TV magnetization.

As Elizabeth said, don't forget to include resistance [light bulb in a socket will work] in your home-made degausser, or the TV will be the least of your problems!

The heavy duty $24 ebay degausser worked and some. The picture on the RCA XL-100 is even better than before the magnet experiment.
Thank you all for the advice.
Howell

Actually there is a easy way to fix it. It seems a little strange but I tried it & it works excellent.

Homemade degausser. And yes it truely works. :)

Go to this link:
http://woil.ws/fixmonitor/