Vandersteens without sock and surrounding poles?

I had to do it for one speaker, as the midrange fried..you have to remove the speaker connections at the back first, then you have to CAREFULLY pry off the bottom piece of wood, then start rolling up the sock, that is when you CAREFULLY remove the top wood by prying as well, both pieces of wood are glued on, but thankfully not that much, but keep in mind that the poles are glued in as well..I didnt remove those, so I really cant say the safest way to remove them..the speakers are absolutly uglier than hell without the socks..bear that in mind as well.. good luck, but I really dont know why you would want to go through all the hassle..IMHO.

I can only imagine what's under the sock since I've only seen it on the picture at their web.
I still have my Vandy's at my brother's house and if I make such experiment probably his wife wouldn't be so happy after all:-)...

I don't really think removing the sock and poles will help much in all honesty. I feel this is going a little over board on the tweak end IMO.
Vandersteen does make a 3A Signature that you can buy with no sock and no poles. I would imagine he'd sell you any speaker like that. He made the Sigs for inwall type home theater stuff. It want hurt to do away with them. The poles support the sock. Underneath, there's just a plain looking cabinet housing the drivers---totally unfinished. It is actually just big enough to house the drivers(narrow at the top and bigger at the bottom) You can go to the Vandersteen web sight and there you will find directions on how to remove the sock under the troubleshooting section. As for the poles, well, you might grab them with a pair of vice grips and twist them until they come lose or you can cut them off at the cabinet. Good luck either way.