Cleaning Vandersteen "Socks" In Situ

[MCM_Fan]

I have a pair of Vandersteen 2CEs that are in perfect functional condition, and other than some dirty socks are in otherwise very nice cosmetic condition.

However, the socks need cleaned. They don't have any tears or snags, and I've seen the threads on the amount of work required to remove/replace the socks. I wish to avoid that and clean the socks in place.

They aren't so much stained as they are soiled from dust. It looks like a prior owner may have tried to clean them with a damp sponge and just managed to further embed the dust within the weave of the fabric. This is especially true of the little top rectangular panels.

I read a comment on the Vandersteen forum from Richard Vandersteen himself where he recommends:

"I WOULD SUGGEST USING A SPRAY FABRIC CLEANER THAT DRIES INTO A POWDER. WHEN DRY, USE THE BRUSH ATTACHMENT ON YOUR VACUUM CLEANER AND CAREFULLY REMOVE THE DRIED CLEANER."

Sorry for the all caps, I cut and pasted his exact response (evidently, Richard has a stuck caps lock key on his keyboard).

In any case, he doesn't specifically mention which brand of spray on fabric cleaner to use. Does anyone have any experience using these cleaners with black grill cloth? I don't want any fading, staining or streaking. That would just make them worse than they already are.

Also, is it best to wipe them down with a damp sponge before (or after) applying the fabric cleaner?

I don't want anything running down onto the drivers. So, I plan to raise the rear of the speakers slightly so that they are tilted forward during the cleaning. I will also lay them on their backs and raise the opposite end while cleaning the little rectangular panels on the top of the speakers. These are actually the most spoiled and will probably require the most work - maybe a second application of the fabric cleaner.

If you have any experience cleaning Vandersteen socks, or any other black grill cloth that can't easily be removed, please chime in with any hints, recommendations, products and methods than have worked for you.

 

[mike j]

I cleaned the upper fabric of my ones with Windex and a wet-vac.
Worked great!
Make sure the vac attachment is clean, as the fabric will be pulled into the tube slightly!
Mike

 

[MCM_Fan]

I cleaned the upper fabric of my ones with Windex and a wet-vac.
Worked great!
Make sure the vac attachment is clean, as the fabric will be pulled into the tube slightly!
Mike

Windex! I would have never thought of that. Did you use a brush attachment, or just one of the straight nozzles?

 

[mike j]

Straight nozzle!
Crevis tool iirc!

 

[MCM_Fan]

Well, that was much easier and turned out much better than anticipated.

It just so happened that I had a nearly full can of Woolite Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner, with Stainlift Technology left over from some chair seats I cleaned last fall.

This stuff:

This is a foaming type cleaner that you scrub into the fabric with the supplied brush, wipe off the excess, let dry and then vacuum.

It also turns out the fabric Vandersteen used for their socks is much tougher and MUCH more snag resistant than it looks.

I started by vacuuming the socks to remove any loose dirt, fuzzys and hairs. I used the brush attachment on my vacuum. I then applied the Woolite cleaner per the instructions. I worked with the speakers laid on their sides, so that nothing world drip down onto the drivers. After scrubbing the cleaner vigorously with the can-top brush, I wiped off the excess with a damp terry cloth wash rag. The foam comes out of the can white, but as I worked the lather with the brush, you could see it start to turn light brownish beige from the dirt it was lifting. This was really only noticeable on the small top fabric panels, as they had, by far, the highest concentration of embedded dirt.

I didn't need to clean the entire surface of the socks with the foam. I just spot cleaned the front, back and sides where needed. Not much really, just a few small ares per speaker.

I then let the cleaner dry, vacuumed it up and gave the socks another once over with a clean, slightly damp terry cloth wash rag.

I wish I had taken a before photo, just so you could see how dirty they were when I started, but here's an after photo that shows how clean they are now:

I can't believe how much better they look. Since the Vandersteens are really just two big socks with a couple small top and bottom caps, cleaning the fabric really transforms the appearance of the speakers. Mine now look practically new. Definitely worth the time and highly recommended.

 

[ghamilton]

 

[MCM_Fan]

This is EXACTLY why I didn't want to remove the socks to clean them. Much faster and easier to clean them in place, and the results using the method described above exceeded my expectations, they look like new.

 

[Wildcat]

It just so happened that I had a nearly full can of Woolite Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner, with Stainlift Technology left over from some chair seats I cleaned last fall.

I haven't done anything with my Vander-socks yet (I'm still deciding on color), but until I can, I might try this. The bottom third of the speaker has a haze of dust that vacuuming won't lift out. There are some small snags in them also, but not noticeable from across the room.

 

[bimasta]

If you have Vandersteens of the "sock" type, snags can be a real, ugly problem. Especially if there's a cat in the house — cats see them in the same way Sir Edmund Hillary saw Mt Everest: he had to climb it "because it's there."

I have 2C's and they had a few snags. This fixed them easily and neatly. I applied a dab of clear nail polish to the base of the snag, let it dry, then snipped off the hanging threads flush with the surface. The nail polish prevented the cloth from unraveling. The mends are invisible: I can't see them and I know where they are.

Probably won't help with disastrous snags.

 

[Wildcat]

That's a good tip, @bimasta. I have a few minors snags and one or two tiny holes, but even there, they are not visible from across the room. But maybe it's OCD that I know they are there, and want them to be perfect. Main thing is, the wood end caps really both need to be redone (the tops have a couple of what look like black Sharpie stains soaked into the wood in a couple of small spots, and some chips, and the bottom caps are just knocked around a bit over the years) so if I go to the trouble to do new veneer on both of them, I'll redo the socks while I'm at it. I've thought of trying a beige color for the socks and a lighter colored wood for the caps, so they don't look so "heavy" in the room.

 

[Audiofreak71]

I use orange glo wood cleaner/polish for the end caps on my 2ce Signature ii’s and I use a clean warm rag that I ring out so there’s no dripping and I clean the cloth at least once a week. I’ve owned them for 2 years and they still look brand new .

Audiofreak71

 

[Wildcat]

Mine are older with a somewhat unknown background (the seller was the original owner's son), and obviously had been moved a couple of times. They were also slid across a floor without any feet on them, as the bottom is fairly scratched up and the edges are a little dicey.