This absolute design classic was brought to me as a wreck. It had no valves, a very worm eaten cabinet, and had obviously been stored for years in a damp shed, but with a few days work it could be restored to near original appearance and performance.

The two redeeming features are that it had its original knobs and loudspeaker cloth, also despite the extensive worm damage most of the original cabinet finish was intact. With the woodworm cured and filled and a cabinet refinish it will turn out superb.

The chassis.

Order a set of valves from Jim Fish a good man to deal with, he will always help with equivalents. Although V1 and V2 are S4VB they are a bit rare now and very expensive, nearly £20 each. I chose the MS4-PEN a later 7 pin valve. At £7 each, a much better buy. The bases have to be modified to the 5 pin. Easy, just unsolder the pins rewire to a 5 pin base, the suppresser grid connects to the cathode inside the base, bring out a separate lead for the metallic screening, and connect to chassis. See the picture of the 2 MS4-PENs yet to have their new bases painted black. The advantage of modifying the valve bases in this way is that if a couple of original S4VPs come along it's a simple plug in and go. Even with saving a bit here the set of valves cost over £40

To components under the chassis. After 70 years they are all very tired, especially the capacitors I snip them all off and thenlash up temporary ones just to fault find, when all the faults have been located and the set is working OK, then I strip it down to do a permanent restoration job. The main trouble with all these early Philips receivers is the electrolytic capacitors, about 12 in all, sealed in 3 metal cans, these have to be removed , sawn open with a hack saw and cleaned out. A very messy job indeed. New caps then can be fitted into the cans, then resealed and they will look absolutely original. You can see in the picture the 3 cans ready to be refitted. All the paper capacitors now need to be changed. One at a time, testing the set after each operation, this ensures that things are done correctly. The original caps are assembled in paxolin tubes and embedded in pitch, just heat and push out. Then insert a modern cap in the tube, and it appears to be original. Next replace the mica caps, these go leaky causing intermittent crackling etc. C9 and C14 are the common culprits. Next fit a double pole on off switch for safety, assemble and put on a long test. See how things go. The set has really superb performance and surprisingly good sound quality for circa 1930. One of the first moving coil permanent magnet loud speakers in production.

This restoration has taken so far the best part of 30 hours to complete, and the cabinet has not been touched yet.