COLIN LAMB wrote:
Speakers in metal boxes are prone to resonate somewhere. I would be willing
to bet 5 cents that the reason they are there is to prevent unwanted
resonances.

Regarding the speaker common lead, it is common to avoid a common ground,
which could cause ground loop problems (hum). Usually, the manufacturer
knows best and all you need to do is put it back to the way the engineers
had it in the first place, and it will work as it was supposed to.

73, Colin K7FM


Thanks Colin, unfortunately ones gets boatanchor gear, as in this case,
where it is not as the manufacturer supplied it. The speaker had been
replaced and if the fibre washers had related to an electrical purpose,
an earth wire might have been relevant. I know than normally speaker
connections do not need to be earthed anywhere, but in the 2-B the
chassis is marked "spkr" and "earth".

This particular set also arrived with the 15 & 10 metre bands dead and
the problem was that the Xtal coil adjustment on 10m was way out -
people do fiddle when they don't know the consequences.

Simon