I'm a tough old veteran of old Radio/TV salvage. And I am notorious for just plugging in an old set just to see what it can do in an unrestored condition. This is why I am nicknamed by locals here in my own stompin' grounds as "Dangerous Dave"....
Oh well, I've always thought that one of the greatest thrills is to plug in that old set found in the attic, and see what the ol' girl will do.
More times than not--providing the set didn't initially respond with an angry 120 Hz hum or buzz--the set would actually perform! I went into an electronics parts store about 3 years ago--a store where I had been doing business 30+ years with the father of that operation, and now with the son--and said son had collected an old console from someone's attic on one of his audio installs.
He was there when I eyed the old radio he had recently collected, removed some detritus and such as laid in the chassis by mice, and--after looking things over--just plugged it in. WTF! he exclaimed. I said "Relax; I have my winter overcoat here to slap it down if it should burst into flames."
The radio hummed a little more than one would like to hear from a fully-restored receiver, but--to my friend's astonishment--I had the radio receiving a local station, and blaring out news at a high volume for an old set.
I didn't run it for long, and would certainly not recommend doing so in any case--without replacing all the capacitors, of course.
The bottom line here, folks, is that half the thrill I get out of antique radio or telly resto is the actually seeing what it will do after simply being plugged in!
I know the "correct" way is to walk these old sets up carefully on a variac to allow the capacitors to redevelop their dielectric. But I know I will probably replace the dad-blamed caps anyway--so why bother....? Worst thing is that something goes pop or bang....adds to the excitement. It's at least half the thrill of exploring an antique piece of electronic gear...
And for the most part causes no harm if one is to at least some degree knowledgeable, and on-the-ball, and keeps their hand on the plug to yank it if things turn bad....