Vandersteen woofer replacements

Richard Vandersteen is usually available but he can be a bit abrupt. The demands on his time are quite high, I imagine.

To remove the socks on my 2C, I first removed the bottom plate--take out the screws, then gently pull the plates off. Then work the sock fabric off by removing the tacks and pulling the fabric away from the adhesive. Next, remove that screws that hold the binding posts plate, and pull away the sock fabric. Now, the sock can be pulled up over the top of the speaker.

FWIW, I upgraded the crossover on my 2C; and I removed the drivers and scraped off all the soft gasket material, then remounted the drivers and put new gasket material (from Parts Express) around the drivers. That way, the drivers are solidly coupled to the cabinet, and the new gasket material forms an airtight seal. Tightened the bass significantly.

I noticed that the socks degrade the sound, so I removed them completely, and all the gasket material and adhesive that held them in place, and then painted the speakers black. They now look pretty techy, not especially living-room friendly, but the speakers do sound much more open.

And yes, because of the socks, working on these speakers is labor intensive.

I didn't want to take mine apart myself...but maybe I should have. Took the whole speaker to a local dealer, 6 weeks late I finally got it back with a new woofer installed and a bill for $247! The replacement woofer itself is $110 so if you want a new one and can do the work yourself it would be much cheaper!

Gary...the socks should be in place when listening. The speaker are voiced with the socks in place. Yes, there is more highs that come through, but its an affectation. They're your speakers, but people should be cautioned about this.