Don't let the aging capacitors and tube fears deter you from considering one
of the better pieces made by
National, Hammarlund, Hallicrafters or Collins. Aligned and maintained they
will outpace anything new that
has come along in the last 30 years. The dynamic range is superb and makes
the comparison with new stuff
like comparing the audio of the old well-built Western Electric telephones
with the raucous crappy audio that is found on cell phones.

Stability? Most of the better receivers from that era pose no NOTICEABLE
drift. Nit-picking absurd specifications like saying a new rig is better
than an older one because it only has 10 Hz drift is nonsense. Even on CW or
SSB I doubt most listeners can even detect 100 cycles of instability.

Replacing capacitors is not rocket science. You remove one that says "10 uF"
and you replace it with a new one that says "10 uF." Duh.

Tubes are still plentiful and with careful shopping (not the price gougers
on scum-Bay) you can buy NOS or used-but-verified good inexpensively. I have
restored lots of these receivers and even the worse cases never needed more
than 1 or two tubes.