Zenith H511Y reception problems

[Jeffhs]

I have a Zenith H511-Y "Consol-Tone" (black bakelite cabinet) 5-tube AC-DC radio that works, but not very well. During the day I get only two stations, one a 50kW station 35+ miles away, the other a 1kW local just two miles distant from my apartment. At night, however, I get stations from several Great Lakes states (Ohio [Cleveland, et al], SE Michigan [Detroit], NE Illinois [Chicago], Indiana [Fort Wayne], but not Wisconsin) and up and down the east coast. I have no reception below about 800 kHz. Could this be due to bad capacitors? The antenna connections are good.

The speaker is shot as well (cone is unbelievably torn up -- but, somehow, it still works). The only thing stopping me from replacing it is the fact that the original is 3.2 ohms. Would an eight-ohm speaker work just as well, or would I be running the risk of burning out the output transformer and/or the 50L6 audio output tube with a speaker of higher impedance?

Lastly, I am wondering what the significance is, if any, of the pilot light in my H511 (and all other Zenith radios of its type; Zenith probably made tens of thousands-plus of these sets in the early to mid-1950s, including an AM/SW battery set, the model J402T) other than just as an on-off indicator. The bulb in mine burned out with a brilliant white flash as soon as I turned on the radio for the first time after winning it in an eBay auction (I did not know then, about ten years ago, the importance of recapping old radios before using them). There was no damage that I could see, and the radio worked after the bulb burned out, but I noticed the 35W4 rectifier tube was glowing much brighter than normal. Someone on another antique radio forum (not ARF) told me shortly thereafter the rectifier tube will burn out soon if the radio is operated without the pilot light in the circuit. My question: Is the #47 pilot light in the H511 radios an integral part of the power supply? It must be, if the rectifier tube glows red if the bulb is burned out or is otherwise out of the circuit, but I don't see how, unless the bulb is part of a voltage divider or serves some other function in the B+ power supply.

Thanks much.