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Originally Posted by vortalexfan
But the only thing is that when I replaced and properly wired in properly, there was no audio but the tubes were lit.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vortalexfan
I didn't have a resistor in line with the diode on my radio... I just wired the diode straight up to the radio because I didn't realize you needed a resistor online with the diode, so yeah the capacitors are probably toast, but would that cause there to be no sound to come out of the speaker or the tubes not to light?
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Your sending contrary messages , in one post you say "No audio but the tubes were lit" and in this post you say "The tubes not to light?" , , , So , which is it , ARE the tubes lit or are they not ?
Now , to get down to the troubleshooting , we need to talk about troubleshooting itself and what it means to diagnose and repair vacuum tube circuit electrical failures . The "Shotgun" method of replacing parts on a vague "It could be this part" notion is not the right way to go . A LOT of perfectly good parts end up replaced that way at great cost till the bad part is finally changed by the luck of the draw . Yes indeed changing out the failure prone electrolytics was a good action , but now that you've had the episode of reverse polarity and have no sound the best course would be to start over completely .
Were this my situation to rectify I'd start by replacing the filter capacitors again because as Electronic M and I have said , they very well could be damaged . Consider mounting a terminal strip to the chassis and attaching the new caps to it as in my picture . I'd put the Selenium rectifier back in the circuit (polarized correctly or you'll REALLY learn what it means to "let the magic smoke out"* !!!!!) and then with a DC voltmeter on a scale of 300 volts or higher , and the schematic diagram , see exactly where B+ voltage actually is and isn't . This of course presumes that the tubes ARE lit and you have no sound . If the tubes aren't lit , start with an AC voltmeter on at least 200 volts scale and using your schematic follow the tube's heater AC path till the open is found .
A multimeter , a schematic , and about 5 minutes are all it should take you to diagnose this , once you replace the filter caps and put the rest of the circuit back to original status . Once you've got it running if you want to eliminate the Selenium rectifier , fine , but DO install the proper dropping resistor for the excess voltage of the silicon diode , circuits have "as designed" operating voltages for a reason , and especially in electronics "somewhat higher" is just about never equated with "better" .
* If you don't already know , an overloaded or shorted Selenium rectifier lets out a noxious smoke that smells like a bucket of rotten eggs X 10 , so make damn sure you polarize the Selenium rectifier correctly , and also using your ohm meter mode of your multimeter make sure that the new caps you install are wired correctly and aren't presenting any kind of short circuit to the rectifier BEFORE you power it on again .....