I dove into my Hallicrafters R-46 speaker refurbishing project today. I had to collect equipment and materials in order for me to get the project started.
Believe it or not, but 35 years ago, I was owner and operator of a small body shop, so refinishing metal objects isn’t a big problem for me; however, finding all those ancient tools took a little time.
I have two DA’s (dual action) sanders that are pretty much my go-to for sanding original finishes without serious sanding scratches. The case cleaned and sanded very nicely. Before it got dark, I applied a couple coats of self-etching grey primer.
My plan is to refinish the speaker in a dark gray color, then paint the stylized “h” and speaker grill area silver or argent so that when completed, the speaker looks more like an R-46B.
I bought a new 10-inch speaker to go in the R-46 … the original one is designed for a much higher impedance that most modern radios offer, so I bought a new speaker. The original speaker appears to be in decent shape. It has a transformer on the speaker input, so I’m not sure what impedance the actual speaker may be. It may play ok, but after 70 years I didn’t want to take a chance.
I’m thinking of adding a 1/4-inch female jack to the rear of the speaker to facilitate connecting it to a radio. This will allow me to use the speaker with more rigs and not have to worry about which connector the speaker wiring is terminated with.
I hope to have a chance to wet sand the speaker case tomorrow and apply more primer. I’m not looking to make a showpiece out of this speaker, but I want it to look nice.