Condor Magic 1000

25th October 2007 Adam Rayner

A two channel amplifier with blue backlighting. It has RCA inputs and outputs and a bass boost switch. High Pass and Low Pass crossovers are controlled by two separate potentiometers with different parameters and there is a selector switch for highpass, lowpass or off. The bass boost operates at a low 40Hz and is selectable for nil, 6dB or 12dB of boost. The heatsink has ground top edges and wears four bolted-on trim pieces that give the amp a wide stance. There are two plastic-covered panels on the top that are peeled upon installation to reveal mirror-finish. Decals that say ‘2-channel high power amplifier’ and ‘max 1000 watts 2 Ohms’ are printed in red and black.
– Class AB MOSFET PWM power supply
– 2 x 120w RMS @ 4 Ohms
– 2 x 240w RMS @ 2 Ohms
– 1 x 480w RMS @ 4 Ohms bridged
– RCA Input & Output sockets
– Aluminium heatsink with milled top edges and decaled shiny panels
– Power/speaker terminals with cross headed grub screw bare wire socket connection
– 9dB per Octave high/low pass crossover
– 0/6/12dB Bass Boost switch @ 40Hz
– Input sensitivity adjustment 0.2V to 0.6V
– Short circuit, overheating, under & over current protection
– Stereo & Mono operation
– Frequency response 20Hz to 40kHz
– Signal to Noise Ratio not quoted
– High Pass Filter 50Hz to 500Hz
– Low Pass Filter 50Hz to 250Hz
– Fuse Rating 30A x 2
– HxWxD(mm) 52 x 315 x 270mm
Review by Adam Rayner
The Magic 1000 is simply too small and not costly enough to make a round kilowatt. In fact, root out its actual continuous power and it is quite clear in the mostly excellent installation manual that it is a 2x50w RMS amp. A MOSFET design, there is a gorgeous mistranslation in the bit which is labelled ‘circuit system’. It says, pulsc power supper . This should say Pulse Width Modulated or PWM power supply, I think, but the fact is it does make a nice slice of watts for what you pay. Especially as this is paired with the ProPlus JLX12 bass box for a penny less than ï¿½120 all in. the bass box is a bit chuffy but drops like a lady dog when tickled up by this amplifier. It isn’t particularly rarefied and despite the website saying the crossovers are 12dB per octave (meaning the treble gets 12dB quieter for every octave of frequency you go down) the leaflet it comes with reveals this to be a mere 9dB. This does mean that you have to crank the Low Pass filter knob around a ways more to keep the mids out of your woofer, but it does keep the cost down and again, you really won’t hear this in any system of less than audiophile pretensions, of which this has none. They do other amps for that.
Like the box it goes with and the Condor Powerhouse-1 subwoofer I have also tried out from this brand, there is a reassuring amount of engineering on board to make the price you pay sensible. It isn’t the cheapest Lowest Common Denominator product. It is entry level but these days that means a savage competition with the likes of Fli and Mutant. This market is no duck walk anymore. ProPlus sound is no longer a lonesome pine with the only Good But Cheap brands. They have company and this can hold its own in that company.
Good looks are part of the package and in these style conscious days, a pretty blue LED can fair turn a boy’s head. Have a few in the amp and incidentally a quartet of ’em in the bass box you picked up at the same time and you will look like Joe Custom. A simple two-channel amplifier with reasonable sound quality that will rock a set of ovals, pump some big coaxes or best of all, used as a cheap and cheerful air-shifter for the bass heads amongst us. Better than the Magic 800 in that I think it’ll will keep some worth for later when you upgrade and flog it on.
Overall 7.6
Sound Quality 8
Power Output 7
Features 7
Build Quality 8
Value For Money 8