[russe41]

I'm wondering what I can expect if I go through the trouble of peeling the bottom sock back enough
to play with port stuffing, some sort of batting I guess.

[Charles Calkins]

You can expect a lot of trouble.

" I'f it ain't broke don't try and fix it"

                                    Cheers
                                    Charlie

[stewie]

I think you can go through the back; take off the terminal plates and go in that way. No need to pull off the sock.

[Antoine]

I currently have the VR4 GenIII HSE's too (VR5 SE's are on it's way btw! ) and had to remove the socks of mine to be able to remove the drivers to have the rubber of the wooferconuses replaced my cats had damaged after climbing up in the speakers.

To remove the sock you'd have to unscrew the bottom plate. The socks are glued to the MDF so you'd have to peel it off. Since you can screw back the bottom plate you won't see it's been gone for a while after you glued the socks back under it.

Mine were lacking the bassresponse I wanted in my room so I removed a dot of dacron stuffing (about 70 grams in total from both speakers) just behind the bassport (same as in VR4 SR/VR5 SE). This greatly improved the bassresponse and 'speed' of bass in my case. So yes it is able but it is quite some work and you have the figure out first what it is you're missing now because what Charles says "if it aint broke dont try to fix it" is ofcourse true. 

[tvad4]

Having owned VS VR4 Gen III HSE loudspeakers, I can say adding Dacron fill to the port is quite simple and does not involve the sock whatsoever.

If the OP's VR4 Gen III speakers are the same as mine (and I believe the only difference is the Hovland caps in the HSE edition) all that's required is to remove the plastic rear speaker binding post plate by removing the screws that hold it in place.

Gently pull the plate away from the cabinet being aware of the wires that connect the binding posts to the crossovers. Nevertheless, you can pull it completely away from the cabinet.

From there, the port is easily accessed through the opening.

The sock remains untouched.