Anyone's tried repairing/upgrading original Vandersteen 1 speakers?

You couldn't pay me enough to take one of those, even in perfect condition. But since you want it, what is bad about the woofer? If it rattles or scrapes the voice coil is shot and you need another woofer. Anything else and it could be a new woofer or electronics. It should be pretty easy to test and see if it really is the woofer. If it is, I wouldn't touch it no matter how cheap without first knowing if you can find a replacement.

Carefully space your fingers evenly around the dustcap of the good woofer, push in gently and feel what the travel feels like, it should move easily and you should not feel any rubs.  Now go to the suspect woofer and do the same. If it feels any differently or won't move at all, you have a bad woofer.  If this is not clear, pull the bad woofer, either measure it for impedance or put a battery on it and see of the cone travels with the battery and you should hear the voltage popping sound when you touch wires to the terminals from the battery. If all of that checks good,  put a signal on the raw woofer.  

These most likely had foam surrounds. Could be as simple as new surrounds. I have 2CE and 3As. Son has 2CE Sigs. I really like the sound of all three. Very musical. 

Putting a lot of time and money into entry level speakers might not be the best way to go. If it is cheap enough AND you can find replacement drivers (I would think chances might be good) I might take a chance on it. 

If you have to buy it, for those speakers, I would not take a chance.

The original Vandersteen 1 speakers sold for $600.00 a pair.  Unless you are getting them for under $50.00, I wouldn't waste the money.  I would call Vandersteen and see if parts are still available.  You will need to give them tthe serial# so they can determine the version.

To replace a woofer can be a cheap fix. In 1981 I bought a pair of ESS TranStatics I’s, introduced in 1970 and discontinued a few years later (with the success of the ESS/Heil AMT 1). One of the two speakers had had it’s KEF B-139 woofer replaced with a generic copy, so I called ESS to see if they had one to sell. I got the last remaining B-139 they had in stock---for 39 bucks!

Did you know Nelson Pass worked at ESS in the early-70's? Not designing electronics (ESS didn't yet offer any), but working on their loudspeakers (specifically their crossovers, I believe).

bdp24,

Nelson designed the "Ion Cloud" loudspeaker while at Threshold that put out a huge amount of ozone due to the ionized gas it used and took several kilowatts to get it to work. I've read it actually drove people from the room due to the ozone and caused power dips in the electrical grid due to the power draw but he said it was one of the best speakers he has heard! 

He also designed a device called "The Shadow" which was an active bass trap. It had a microphone built into it that sampled the acoustics of the room and put out an inverse signal to a woofer that cancelled/mitigated the high pressure acoustic bass waves. Brilliant design that for the life of me didn't catch on.

I real interesting article about his early days can be found here for those interested - https://www.stereophile.com/interviews/1191pass/index.html

@nmmusicman: Yeah, I remember that speaker. It and Nelson are pictured together on an old (digest sized, J. Gordon Holt era) Stereophile magazine cover. I need to dig out my copy and reread the report on the speaker.

@OP,
Either contact Vandersteen directly or John Rutan(audioconnection).
You can also post at the Vandersteen forum-on the Vandy website. We'd love to hear from you.
Vandersteen offers great customer service. You'll probably need to buy 2 drivers, as they are matched. There are videos on Youtube that show how to replace the drivers. Models 1-3 were designed to be easily repaired. Just peel back the fabric and do what is needed.
Crossovers usually aren't the problem, but, who knows?
Unless you are getting them for $100 bucks or less, I would look elsewhere. You can find plenty of working model 1's at reasonable prices.
PM me if you need additional info.
Bob

Millercarbon, may I ask what version of the 1's you owned. They changed a bit over the years.

I'm running Vandy 1ci's with Belles Aria monoblocks and preamp and they sound ridiculously good. The fact that I paid $400 for them makes them all the more sweet. The 1's when setup correctly will reward you when paired with good sources and upstream equipment.