No need to be sorry for the rant. It's true; people watch those shows and think that they have a fortune. If you look for the knobs from the people on here, you'll find that they are very fair with their prices.

The largest crocks are filled with statements from the show, "Storage Wars". There is no way people are going to pay what they say the stuff is worth...

The audio detector is also meaningless like AGC, the top of the tone control looks like a great location because it presents an input impedance to match

Problem is, I would be coupling directly into the audio output tube, Not sure it would have enough volume as most audio amps at least have a pre-amp tube?

Good point, line output level of the source player is about 1 volt, and 1 K or 10 K impedance. An low input Z like an op-amp or transistor stage is needed. The 6JD8 detector stage output level needs to be duplicated to drive the output stage.

I am wondering if I could use the 6JD8 by itself as its of course going to have gain. Just need to disconnect the IF coming into it.

IIRC that is what I did.