Ever demag a cart this way?

Yes, I've made various posts on the subject of cartridge fluxbusting over the years, to first the Analog Addicts mailing list, later the Phonogram list. Below is a link where a Phonogrammer archived one such post.

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/vinyl/messages/61192.html

regards and hth

Thanks for the link and expert input, Jonathan!

Especially the warnings concerning Alnico magnets, which my XV-1s has. I'm going to try your suggestion of shorting channel outputs to grounds at the tonearm leads using a shorted pair of rca female jacks. I have the Cardas sweep LP to compare with.

JCarr,

So the Test Sweep on the Hi-Fi News record, will deguass the cartridge like the Cardas Sweep does?

The Hi-Fi News records also has the "torture" track. Would that help as well?

Darrell