[Chuck Schwark]

I will add one more thing. Could not having the speaker output plugged into the chassis be causing my issues by overloading the rest of the circuitry? I could try plugging it in and powering up later, just thought I would throw it out there.

A radio with an EM speaker should always stay connected to chassis when out of the cabinet, as the field coil ( in your Model 18 ) does double-duty as the second power supply filter choke, as well as the "magnet" for the speaker.

If disconnected, the power supply rectifier and the filter caps can see excessive over voltages, or any resistors and other components, depending on the circuit design.

Chuck