I was never really happy with the appearance of the 471, after spending only minimal time on the cabinet. So, the other day I decided to strip it down and do some work on it.

The other things I want to do, re-wire the speaker connector and investigate why the volume output is so low.

Update on this, I’ve managed to redo the speaker wiring and also found some small problems around the amplifier section (EL33 valve) I had substituted a 0.1uF cap in place of the old 0.2uF. Fixed this by connecting another 0.1uF and parallel. This in combination with fixing a dry joint brought the volume up nicely.

Modular internals of the 471, waiting for the cabinet to be cleaned up

7/5/2020

I’m excited to post this update, as today I have re-assembled the radio.

The cabinet was rubbed down and re-stained. The damaged speaker cloth replaced. I changed the colouring a little with black gloss around the edges and coloured the tuning knob to match the others.

Click on each image to zoom in
Before and After

I know that there’s always a risk of spoiling the originality of a piece of vintage radio equipment. For me, there are only two criteria that makes this worth doing, one is, it works (you can plug it in and use it) and second, it needs to look good and make you feel happy to have it in a corner of your living room.

I know feel happy with this one, but I welcome comments on this subject, please feel free to comment below.