Well it looks like I was wrong about the speaker -- it was likely a permanent magnet to begin with. Being a 1949 model seems to make it that way; wartime improvements in permanent magnets had made their way into the post-war consumer market by then. Here are the pics of what is there -- quality is grainy, but you can see what is left. Three wires out of the radio to the transformer that was mounted on the speaker basket; two of them into the transformer, and one to the speaker's
(-) terminal, I suppose.
So what is with the transformer then? Why is it there? Have to excuse my ignorance -- haven't poked my head into too many old radios. What would be a good guess as to the impedance? I have a couple of pretty neat old drivers hanging around that I haven't found a use for yet in several years. Reece, you are correct -- there's room inside for an 8" driver to fit with very little modification, as long as the basket clears the tube at the back (which I think most will). Thanks again for the help; I love this place -- I've learned a bit in this exercise.
Totem, I am indeed enjoying the veneering side of things -- it's pretty cool to be able to turn a POS into something that looks nice. I find that I'm enjoying the DIY side of this hobby more than anything else, now that I'm not continually trying to upgrade my gear. Just another great thing that I've learned about here on AK; I'd have never done anything like this without help from this site.
If you have anything that sounds great, but looks like crap, I'd really recommend giving the reveneering a go; it isn't that hard to do.
EDIT: Reece was posting the same time as I was
