Demo of EM71 Tuning Eye in SABA Freiburg 7 Automatic Chassis

I was surprised that the local tube shop had EM71 tuning eye tubes in stock (yes, I have a local tube shop! - PacificTV). These are an unusual Loktal base stubby-envelope tube. I picked one up this morning and installed it. Removing the old tube was not easy! - should pop out of its socket when pushed towards the bump on the side of the base - yeah, right! - this one had been in so long it was stuck well and truly. I managed it in the end - without breaking the phenolic tube base too. The new eye tube definitely improves the aesthetics of the front panel and works well. On another note, I changed the motor capacitors: I had fitted standard values (0.47uF for the 0.4uF one, and 0.33uF for the 0.35uF one) - I replaced these with 4 x 0.1uF capacitors in parallel for the 0.4uF part, and 3 x 0.1uF plus a 0.05uF capacitors in parallel for the 0.35uF one. I read somewhere that the values are quite critical (even though the originals are marked 10% tolerance). Making this change definitely improved the motor operation. I still need to check a few resistor values and then align this chassis, but it is now working well - sounds good too!