# A little surround repair job on a JL 12W0-4



## LimpCroissaint (May 18, 2021)

Just sharing a little tidbit of my day. I had an old original JL 12W0-4 sitting around with a broken surround that I got around to repairing today. I pulled the pushed in dust cap using q-tips and a hot glue gun. And centered the cone by quietly playing a 40 hz test tone out of a Lepai LP-2020a+. I'm going to mess around with it inverted in a 1 ft cubed sealed box to test her out. Does anyone have recommended enclosure info for these 12W0 version 1's? I'd like to make a ported box for it. Cheers!


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## lithium (Oct 29, 2008)

good job, you can find some info on the jl recommended enclosures in the manual or model them in winisd.

i think this is the correct manual. 





JL Audio 10W0 Owner's Manual (Page 3 of 4) | ManualsLib







www.manualslib.com


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## LimpCroissaint (May 18, 2021)

lithium said:


> good job, you can find some info on the jl recommended enclosures in the manual or model them in winisd.
> 
> i think this is the correct manual.
> 
> ...


Thank you, and awesome, that does list enclosure sizes sweet! I appreciate the resource.


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## Sudoku (Jun 27, 2021)

Good job! 
I have to do the same on a 12W3 of the same vintage, will try your method.

I've got the original JL reference manual they used to supply dealers with, I'll dig it out later and see what the 12W0 recommendations are. It goes into a bit more detail than the user manual.


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## LimpCroissaint (May 18, 2021)

Sudoku said:


> Good job!
> I have to do the same on a 12W3 of the same vintage, will try your method.
> 
> I've got the original JL reference manual they used to supply dealers with, I'll dig it out later and see what the 12W0 recommendations are. It goes into a bit more detail than the user manual.


Nice, I'd really appreciate that, that sounds awesome! I really love old school drivers of all different varieties.

Ya playing the tone while gluing is by far the easiest way to center the voice coil. I've done it free hand as well and it's just too easy to get it slightly off center and then if the glues set you just have to tear your brand new surround off and start over with the scraping the basket and cone clean. If you were doing it as a day job and had all the surrounds you'd need on hand it wouldnt be too bad but for the collector and consumer this ways awesome. You can also carefully pry off the dust cap and shim the voice coil but that turns it into a whole another process and it's too easy to mess your cone and dust cap up during removal. I probably only had 10 watts going to the sub and that was perfect for getting the cone moving enough to keep it nice and centered.


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## Sudoku (Jun 27, 2021)

I will no doubt pester you with questions when I come to do mine 😁 

Do you mind if I ask who you bought the surround from? I need to find a decent supplier who is willing to ship to the UK.


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## Sudoku (Jun 27, 2021)

Attached should be the scans from the JL reference manual. They are PDFs, I'm not sure how to post them correctly.
2 of the pages show how the 12W0 will/should work in different enclosure sizes, sealed or ported, and with recommended port diameter and length.
There is also a scan of the bandpass recommendations, probably of no use but thought I'd put it up.

Will you get better recommendations from WinIsd? Quite possibly, this manual probably pre-dates accessible software by some years.


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## LimpCroissaint (May 18, 2021)

Sudoku said:


> Attached should be the scans from the JL reference manual. They are PDFs, I'm not sure how to post them correctly.
> 2 of the pages show how the 12W0 will/should work in different enclosure sizes, sealed or ported, and with recommended port diameter and length.
> There is also a scan of the bandpass recommendations, probably of no use but thought I'd put it up.
> 
> Will you get better recommendations from WinIsd? Quite possibly, this manual probably pre-dates accessible software by some years.


Hell ya, thank you very much man! I cant wait to check them out when I get off work.

As far as getting supplies;I've used both Simplyspeakers and Speakerworks. They both had a "surround replacement kit" for my 12w0. They've got them for quite a few different subs but on a lot you just have to source them by measuring the surround and finding one that works. I recommend both although I will say that Simply speakers packaged mine a lot better in a perfect box, where the other just put it in one of those padded manilla envelope deals and it had a few minor bends. It turned out to not be a big deal and worked perfect for me though. Also one came with a glue that works good for plastic and poly cones and the other came with a glue that they said you have to prime the contact surface of the cone first if it's a plastic cone. I can see which one is which when I get home if you want. Two other good sites are Fixmyspeaker and Springfieldspeakers. I dont know about shipping to the UK though, hopefully they do.


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## LimpCroissaint (May 18, 2021)

Sudoku said:


> Attached should be the scans from the JL reference manual. They are PDFs, I'm not sure how to post them correctly.
> 2 of the pages show how the 12W0 will/should work in different enclosure sizes, sealed or ported, and with recommended port diameter and length.
> There is also a scan of the bandpass recommendations, probably of no use but thought I'd put it up.
> 
> Will you get better recommendations from WinIsd? Quite possibly, this manual probably pre-dates accessible software by some years.


Wow, I just came back and re-looked at these pages. The information JL gave on these specs sheets is AMAZING! Man... If only companies would give information like this now days, that is extremely impressive! Thanks for digging it up for me!


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## Sudoku (Jun 27, 2021)

You are welcome! 

That manual has a ton of information for all their subs of that time. Isobaric bandpass? It is all in there! 

I know it has never been easier to look things up online, or use software, but I still use that book and refer to it as I too have a penchant for old school subs.

If you need anything else just let me know.


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## Sudoku (Jun 27, 2021)

And thanks for the info on your surround suppliers, the package descriptions are exactly what I wanted to know!


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## LimpCroissaint (May 18, 2021)

Sudoku said:


> And thanks for the info on your surround suppliers, the package descriptions are exactly what I wanted to know!


Cool, I'm glad it led you in the tight direction! See ya around my friend.


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## kknowles (Oct 9, 2017)

Hey guys, if I'm not aware of a shop that repairs speakers. Do I need to find someone that does general electronics repair?


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## Sudoku (Jun 27, 2021)

kknowles said:


> Hey guys, if I'm not aware of a shop that repairs speakers. Do I need to find someone that does general electronics repair?


That would be a good place to start.

Also see if you can find any dealers/repair companies for PA equipment. They might be able to repair, or at least point you in the right direction. 

What repairs do you need to do?


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## LimpCroissaint (May 18, 2021)

kknowles said:


> Hey guys, if I'm not aware of a shop that repairs speakers. Do I need to find someone that does general electronics repair?


There seems to be a decent number of guys on facebook that do repairs also. I havent used a tone though so I dont have a tone to recommend.


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