2. speakers
  3. 137321-116056

Vandersteen 1 repair.

I just lost a woofer in an older but otherwise solid Vandersteen 1 and am at a bit of a loss as to what to do. 

Part of me feels like being daring and looking for a pair of drivers to use that may equal or possibly improve performance. 

In thinking about this possibility I am not sure if it will be easy to source a pair of drivers that will match the needs of the task as well as what Vandersteen put in there in the first place. 

As such I sent a note to them and got a quote back to repair the damaged driver for $180 reusing I assume most of the driver I have. There are a LOT of really good quality drivers out there in a price range that would let me replace both woofers and not be worried how soon the second one may go out after spending that much for a repair of 1 driver. 

I would be interested to hear thoughts of others who have been in a similar situation as well as thought from people who have went outside of stock and modified your own gear. 

Thanks! 
128x128dsycks
helomech
1,538 posts
 
Vandersteen speakers have matched pair drivers. They also match them to the crossovers. You’d be better off sending in the pair to have matched and updated drivers installed.
dsycks's avatar
dsycks OP
17 posts
 
I did in fact anticipate needing to do both drivers and said as much in my email to Vandersteen support. This is the reply I received which surprised me in a few ways... 

"We rebuild the drivers reusing their cores so yes, you can send that unit back to us. We don’t need the other to make sure it matches. A rebuild on the woofer in a Model 1 runs around $180.

Best regards,  Jaclyn" 

kalali's avatar
kalali
1,977 posts
 
I received a similar response when I inquired about the woofer in my model 2. They know their speakers better than folks on the forums.
gregm
3,397 posts
 
" Part of me feels like being daring and looking for a pair of drivers to use that may equal or possibly improve
performance "

Why not, after all, adventures can have happy endings (albeit, woofers can be expensive off the shelf!).  The only drawback is you don’t know the TS parametres of the original woofers. Do you have a friend who can measure the remaining woofer, so you know what you’re looking for? If not, you might as well take Van up on their offer.
dsycks's avatar
dsycks OP
17 posts
 
Yeah. That’s part of why I am posting. ;)

I’m hoping someone has some data laying around and know what parameters the replacements will need to play well in this application.

Knowing the design theory of the speakers and crossovers gives me some good ideas as to what I am looking for but it’s always smart to consult the hive of smart folks before you take the jump.

Sometimes you wander into a really smart person who drops extra good information on you.
More to discover