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In Reply to: RE: OLD Tweak posted by SgreenP@MSN.com on October 08, 2014 at 20:24:17
The screws do hold the drivers in place, and the mastic after time simply hardens. If you remove and replace the screws one at a time you will not disturb the existing mastic.
I normally use the 3M automotive window caulk when performing repairs on the Vandersteens and other speakers: (Vandy 2's, originals, had foam surrounds) scraping off the old hardened mastic, and replacing with the pliable 3M stuff. After a few years it does harden and being designed to watertight windows it is similarly air tight.
Follow Ups:
That was interesting and helpful. I have a very old pair of Vandersteen 2's that I need to necromance. When you get the woofer off, to you refoam them yourself or do you send them to Vandersteen?
Original 2's used a foam surround woofer and a midrange if memory serves me right. While Richard prefers that you send the drivers back to him, I have refoamed in the field with no audible harm. My guess is that he has seen a lot of botched jobs.
Except for the first generation 2's all the subsequent models use a rubber surround, so normally they seem to last forever. I did get a speaker om fr repair where constant exposure to sunlight had really stiffened the rubber and it had cracked. Sent back to factory and they repaired it.
Cool thing about Richard is that he offers 100% support for every speaker he has ever made. The OEM driver may be long gone but he has the facilities to rebuild everythig he has every used. I had a slightly later model of the 2 where the voice coil was open: Sent it back and he repaired it !
I do not beieve there is any other manufacturer with that kind of support, particularly when he goes back over 25 years. He's cool dude, a bit on conservative side when it comes to customer service ( he doesn't trust many consumers, and can't say I blame him!)
It is a real "female dog" getting the sock off. Is there a way to tell if it is second generation from the outside? Serial number perhaps? I have heard that Richard gives good support. Not like Infinity with the EMIT and EMIM drivers.
Dave
You can go by serial numbers and I believe Richard added the B, C etc at the end of the number. On the 2Ce, the e stands for elongated and the cabinet was 3 inches taller
I did a search and found this:
1977 – Vandersteen Model 2 debuted
1979 – Vandersteen Model 2a
1980 – Vandersteen Model 2b
1980 – Vandersteen Model 2c - last model using perishable foam surrounds
1989 – Vandersteen Model 2ci - 1st model using butyl rubber surrounds
1992 – Vandersteen Model 2ce
If the surround is white it is foam. If not, I won't worry about it!
Dave
Not burdened by the assumptions of much technical knowledge, earlier today I inserted cork a sixteenth-of-an-inch thick around the circular flange between the mid-range/ woofer speaker baskets and the cabinet. That slight insulation of each from the vibration of the other (and perhaps of the tweeter and cross-over back panel from both as well) through the cabinet led to an unexpected improvement in the dimensionality of the sound. Interestingly similar insulation of the tweeter from the cabinet slightly degraded the sound quality.
The thin cork is presumably so well crushed by the screw-tightening pressure that no air can escape...
Richard V cautioned me not to touch those drivers, unless I wanted to remove them. No need to tighten them
To keep the cork from drying and cracking, a NON PETROLIUM lube, like a silicon stopcock grease very, very lightly applied should help.
You probably don't have ANYTHING in your house that'll touch this stuff. It is quite inert, under most conditions.
Too much is never enough
PictureGuy,
Many thanks for the helpful suggestion and link!
DG
Enjoy,
But keep in mind the way I was taught to use this stuff:
'Put none on and take it all off' was the mantra.
IOW, use VERY sparingly. Less, even. NO blobs or globs.
Too much is never enough
Thank you for the technical directions.
Must have removed each speaker box from its cabinet for various testing purposes about 25 times this year, carefully laying out the ferrous screws on the floor in the exact formation of their installation to avoid endless trouble on re-installation. (A process made redundant by their brass replacements which are tightly held but not hole-dependent.)
The difficulty for an habitual tweaker is knowing when to sparingly apply 'Dow Corning® High Vacuum Grease' to the flange between each speaker basket and cabinet and secure the permanent air-pressure seal. Perhaps after soldering six-foot long, high-quality hookup-wire replacements directly from the speaker box connectors to the cross-overs in an external enclosure mounted on a maple or bamboo block floating free of the cabinet vibrations? Surely that will finally be it.
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