I removed the tube receiver from the coffee-table console, labeling any wire ends: speaker wires, AC power socket, etc.
It turned out that the replacement woofers were connected IN SERIES to the two Bass-channel leads. Since some of the wire used was new, it was impossible to tell, or strongly suspect whether or not the original woofers were connected the same way. The left and right channel wires were connected to the original midrange speakers. The tweeters were not connected, and if there had been any crossover circuit affecting the mids and tweeters originally, it is impossible to tell.
I have it now set up on a table, where I first cleaned the pots and blew air threw the tuning capacitors. None of the controls are noisy now. I connected the left and right speaker wires to a pair of very old, and tiny Herald bookshelf speakers, with a max capacity of 4-5 Watts. I connected the Bass channel wires to one of a pair of small Panasonic speakers, from an old combination stereo, because their single drivers were similar in size to the original woofer.
I'm going to try a different combination, since the bass channel in particular sounds rather muffled. The old Heralds are a bit degraded, so that may have affected a sense that the treble wasn't as bright as I was hoping. Still, I think it sounded overall as good as the console sounded when I played the intact console as it sat in my pickup truck bed yesterday. Anyway, the first indoor test, with other speakers worked.
There is a fair amount of bass in the regular speaker signals, so I'm not sure if the bass channel is needed if it isn't as clear. I may try the receiver with other speakers, but no bass channel speakers at all.
I tried hooking the line-level output from a CD player to the phono inputs and playing a CD. It worked; the only problem was lower volume level. Obviously, there is no preamp for a magnetic cart in the system, if something at normal line-level isn't loud. A crystal/ceramic cart with a strong output must be needed. I have a few ceramics, but need one with a half-inch mount or adapter to test using my current setup.
More later.
