Opening the cages is not hard if you do it in right sequence. First you angle out the earspeakers as far away from the head as possible, which will expose the 2 screws hiding on the side. You must unscrew these 2 philips head screws on the side (opposite side of sliding foam pad), which will allow the earspeaker/foam assembly to come off.
THEN you can unscrew the flat-head screws from the bottom of the "hinge." You cant' unscrew it all the way from just the bottom, though, and must push with something thin/long from the top at the same time (which is why you need the whole assembly off the headband).
Then it's easy to take the earphones off from the foam pad assembly. From there, it's just a couple more screws on the cage assembly itself.
As far as soundstage, even though you can simulate speakers' soundstage by swinging the earspeakers away from the ear, the leanness just is not acceptable to me. Even before the mods, I preferred the earspeakers closest to my ear. I'm not one of those people who can't stand images inside their head. In fact, I prefer a solid, rich, intimate image right there close and detailed. To me, tone and density, as well as detail are more important for musical enjoyment than soundstage, but I understand some will rank them in reverse. People with such preferences should not be buying headphones, even the K1000 or even with those Headroom processors IMO. They should buy regular speakers...