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Sitting Room Build: Jack 12 Lite
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 2:23 pm
by HugoMack

TRYING TO GET PICS LOADED.. "They ARE less than 700 pixels wide and high!!!!" Have now given up. Sorry. You'll have to click the links...
I've enjoyed watching your builds, so I thought I'd chronicle mine here.
My USP is that I live in the centre of a city, so my sitting room is the only place I've got to do it.
The sheets arrived on Friday..... Problem number one was that the plywood was blocking up the front door, so had to be cut up into manageable bits pronto
http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg5 ... ed01b5.jpg
My little house is pretty full of music gear, and my girlfriend is extremely encouraging!!
This being the usual sort of sitting room scene...
http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg5 ... 3864f9.jpg
So I needed to get the sheets cut up into smaller bits asap.
http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg5 ... 89110e.jpg
I tried to cut down on sawdust, even though the girl friend said she liked the smell.
http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg5 ... 6efc79.jpg
Soon there were smaller sheets.
http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg5 ... 828522.jpg
Then 20 inch circles for the horn braces.
http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg5 ... bdfaf8.jpg
http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg5 ... 5debae.jpg
Then more sheets
http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg5 ... 72fc6b.jpg
Then an attempt at bending the horns
http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg5 ... ba59f7.jpg
Now most of the main parts
http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg5 ... 0fac42.jpg
I now have a question.....
For the woofer spacers: can you glue the two 13x13 squares together before shaping?
Is the hole in the middle 5 inch diameter? (There seems to be a crucial dimension missing... of the width of the spacer once cut out) .
On the SKetchUp plan, inside on the rear face of the baffle, there are the two phase plugs then over the top of them, a white thing.... What is that? And I notice there isn't a phase plug dome on the outside...?
Having fun here, but need to get it all done rapido so as not to strain the current good humoured toleration of this madness!!
Re: Sitting Room Build: Jack 12 Lite
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 3:06 pm
by Jools4001
Yes, cut two 13" squares from the 1/4" ply and glue them together first, then mark up the woofer spacer on the resulting 1/2" blank and cut that out.
Don't make the mistake I did and try and cut two woofer spacers and then laminate them because the two spacers will skid all over the place on the PL and it's a bugger to get them lined up.
Then cut out a circle that is 1/8" smaller than the inner diameter of your speaker's gasket from the middle of your woofer spacer, then from the circle of scrap wood you have left over, cut a 5" circle...this is the phase plug that you glue onto the back of the baffle.
Have a look at my build thread, or PM me for my phone number if it's not clear.
Re: Sitting Room Build: Jack 12 Lite
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 3:14 pm
by HugoMack
Thanks Jools. (Sorry about not getting the pics themselves in. It's driven me nuts. The build is much, much easier.)
Is the 1 inch foam extension on the rear of the phase plug in addition to the two 6mm 5" circles?
Re: Sitting Room Build: Jack 12 Lite
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 3:17 pm
by HugoMack
I haven't got the speakers yet. I'm going to use the Kappalite 3012HO. Is it best to wait till I get them before cutting out the woofer spacer hole?
Re: Sitting Room Build: Jack 12 Lite
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 3:26 pm
by HugoMack
Re-read your build thread Jools. Thanks. It makes sense now.
Re: Sitting Room Build: Jack 12 Lite
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 4:12 pm
by Grant Bunter
HugoMack wrote:I haven't got the speakers yet. I'm going to use the Kappalite 3012HO. Is it best to wait till I get them before cutting out the woofer spacer hole?
Yes, have the driver on hand so you can test clearance.
Do the plans for the lite say that the diameter should be larger than the hole for other drivers if using the 3012HO?
Re: Sitting Room Build: Jack 12 Lite
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 3:51 pm
by Jools4001
Woofer cutout should be 1/8" smaller than the inner diameter of the speaker gasket. I've got 3012HOs and their inner diameter is 11" so, obviously, the cutout is 10 7/8".
That's one of the build challenges for me. I went to school in the days when we used Imperial measurements and even Pounds, Shillings and Pence, but for nearly all of my adult life I've used metric measurements, decimal currency and I'm much more comfortable these days using millimetres than fractions of an inch. I decided to do my Jacks using inches rather than converting all the measurements, but it still takes some getting used to. Easier than using Cubits though, especially if you need to convert to tads, smidgens and the French soupcons.

Re: Sitting Room Build: Jack 12 Lite
Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 6:40 am
by HugoMack
I'm a chain man myself: ie measuring in fractions of a cricket pitch. Better than all these arbitrary measurements what?
Re: Sitting Room Build: Jack 12 Lite
Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 9:47 am
by Mark Coward
I noticed your Fractal setup, I used to run an AxeFX rig. Are you planning to use the J12 with it as FRFR?
Re: Sitting Room Build: Jack 12 Lite
Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 11:59 am
by escapemcp
HugoMack wrote:
TRYING TO GET PICS LOADED.. "They ARE less than 700 pixels wide and high!!!!" Have now given up. Sorry. You'll have to click the links...
I use postimage.org and use the
640x480 (for message boards) option under the
resize option box.
Once uploaded, it even has the code to copy & paste straight into here!! - use Hotlink/Thumbnail for forums
(1) and you don't have to mess around.
The results look like this using the copy & paste option:
Thumbnail for forums (1):
Hotlink for forums (1):
free picture upload
Or you can just use the
direct link option and paste it after clicking on the
Img button along the top of the window when you create a post on this site.
Note that the first 2 are hotlinks, you can click on them, although the larger (2nd) one of these has that annoying "free picture upload" text along the bottom... easy enough to get rid of, but a PITA if you are posting lots of pics. If you use the thumbnail option to post your images, then you won't have to resize them when you upload as the thumbnails are easily small enough to be posted here.
Personally I think it is very handy having an account (free, takes 2 mins to sign up), as you can then very quickly and easily get to all of your uploaded images from the past. You can also create albums which is handy. If you don't create an account, then you will have a load of disparate photos which you will probably never be able to find again, meaning you'll have to re-upload a photo if you ever want to repost it. I don't know how long they are hosted for. I would think that with an account they would be hosted for longer... note the "I think" qualifier though! My first photos were posted to my account about 15 months ago and they are still there.
Try it with just one pic (no need to create an account to test) and you'll see how easy it is.
Hope this helps
Re: Sitting Room Build: Jack 12 Lite
Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 7:28 am
by Charles Jenkinson
Love it escape. You are describing the difference between people who can be ar5ed with IT, and people who cannot. I wish I had a little more 'can do' with IT.
Good work Hugo!, and votes of thanks to your girlfriend. Even more respect when sawn (never mind built) in the lounge.
Re: Sitting Room Build: Jack 12 Lite
Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 1:32 pm
by HugoMack
Mark Coward wrote:I noticed your Fractal setup, I used to run an AxeFX rig. Are you planning to use the J12 with it as FRFR?
Hi Mark,
I'm definitely going to try out the JAck Lite 12's as FRFR. For pub gigs I'll set up patches with extra scenes that make just the modulating effects in stereo from out of Outputs 1 into the PA then to the Lites, keeping the amp coming out of the backline speaker which isn't FRFR (a Matrix NL12). I haven't worked out the patch yet, but it will use changes to cab output to mute and open Output 1.
This "triphonic" setup is a great effect, which also works on a big FOH even if it's only running in stereo.
If the Jacks do justice to FRFR on the Axe (which is pretty seriously picky about needing to be utterly flat), I'll build a third one (Assuming these go OK obviously!!), and run the triphonic set up with the big rig, by having a Jack in the centre somewhere suitable.
Triphonic really emphasises the modulations, widening them hugely (chorus sounds great), while keeping the dry from the backline cab really strong. Stereo doesn't do this, and the guts drops out of the sound, which is why most people don't like it for live use.
Re: Sitting Room Build: Jack 12 Lite
Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 2:15 pm
by HugoMack
escapemcp wrote:HugoMack wrote:
TRYING TO GET PICS LOADED.. "They ARE less than 700 pixels wide and high!!!!" Have now given up. Sorry. You'll have to click the links...
I use postimage.org and use the
640x480 (for message boards) option under the
resize option box.
Once uploaded, it even has the code to copy & paste straight into here!! - use Hotlink/Thumbnail for forums
(1) and you don't have to mess around.
The results look like this using the copy & paste option:
Thumbnail for forums (1):
Hotlink for forums (1):
free picture upload
Or you can just use the
direct link option and paste it after clicking on the
Img button along the top of the window when you create a post on this site.
Note that the first 2 are hotlinks, you can click on them, although the larger (2nd) one of these has that annoying "free picture upload" text along the bottom... easy enough to get rid of, but a PITA if you are posting lots of pics. If you use the thumbnail option to post your images, then you won't have to resize them when you upload as the thumbnails are easily small enough to be posted here.
Personally I think it is very handy having an account (free, takes 2 mins to sign up), as you can then very quickly and easily get to all of your uploaded images from the past. You can also create albums which is handy. If you don't create an account, then you will have a load of disparate photos which you will probably never be able to find again, meaning you'll have to re-upload a photo if you ever want to repost it. I don't know how long they are hosted for. I would think that with an account they would be hosted for longer... note the "I think" qualifier though! My first photos were posted to my account about 15 months ago and they are still there.
Try it with just one pic (no need to create an account to test) and you'll see how easy it is.
Hope this helps
Thanks Escape. Fantastic - mesmerised by your T39's. Did you make the narrow ones first (my plan). What's the widths? 24 inches maximises the use of a 4x5 sheet - probably 20 inches does too. The min is 14" for a 12 inch speaker? I suppose 15" would also make for an economic cut?
Here's from postimage.org!! Excellent tip.
I'll pass on Charles' respect to girl friend. It all helps!
I need a bit more wood. Am therefore going to get some 12mm for the woofer spacers. So I might buy the sheets for my T39's.... Hence asking these questions about optimum widths and sheet layouts....
If we get a bit of decent weather, I'll do the T39 cuts out in the street. I can't bend those thicker sheets to get into the living room - and definitely not the backyard (such as it is). So the street it will have to be. I'll post pics!!
Re: Sitting Room Build: Jack 12 Lite
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 1:55 pm
by HugoMack
Sorry - another dumb question: where to buy PL Premium in the UK?
I was offered alternative expanding polyurethane glue at my timber merchant but said "Get thee behind me Satan". Only now I'm ready to start assembly, I'm not (ready).
Re: Sitting Room Build: Jack 12 Lite
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 2:59 pm
by DJPhatman
HugoMack wrote:Sorry - another dumb question: where to buy PL Premium in the UK?
I was offered alternative expanding polyurethane glue at my timber merchant but said "Get thee behind me Satan". Only now I'm ready to start assembly, I'm not (ready).
http://www.tool-net.co.uk/p-324986/ever ... 310ml.html
Acceptable substitute.
http://tooltray.com/Wood-Adhesives/Lumb ... -310ml.htm
Used with success by escapemcp in the UK.