Pro Plus JLX12

A black carpeted trapezoidal wedge-shaped box with twelve inch metal coned subwoofer, rectangular horn-flare port and curved-prong pressed chromed steel open-design protective grille fitted with four blue LEDs which are connected separately in a DC socket within the speaker cup at the back. The carpet is a close-compressed Nylon type, the terminals are screw-downs with a 4mm aperture in their rears which can accept banana plugs although this would not be best in mobile use. There is a shiny ProPlus badge on the front and the inside woodwork has been sprayed silver where you can see in through the port. It is made of decently weighty MDF and feels solid.
– 12 inch subwoofer in ported enclosure
– Aluminium alloy cone
– 2 inch Aluminium voice coil
– 300w RMS (500w Max)
– Protective metal grille
– Rectangular horn-mouthed port aperture
– Blue LED lights (4) built into grille
– 12V DC socket in rear for LEDs
– Fully carpeted in black
– ProPlus badge
– Screw down terminals
Review by Adam Rayner
Sold as a package with the Condor Magic 1000 amplifier, the £69.95 ProPlus JLX 12 has been hooked up with a £112.95 amp for a combined price of £120 the lot, which is another characteristically compelling deal from these people. You would really have to be mad not to get the package if you were looking seriously at one or the other. The products are good to look at. The amp has a pair of shiny panels with plastic on them which you remove last upon installation but this box is far from a mere carpeted bit of cellulose with a speaker thrown in it. It has a sexy curved-prong grille made of chromed pressed steel and stuck underneath it are four big blue LED lights. These do not use the power of the speaker wire’s volts as some do, but rather glow all the time by way of a dedicated 12V DC socket found just above the speaker connection terminals in the plastic cup around the rear.
The speaker driver is a huge top-suspended Aluminium coned beast that can use a fat five hundred watts but is rated to three hundred. All of which rather speaks the truth about the thousand watts badge on the amplifier it goes with. However, ProPlus obviously know this is a marriage made in heaven as the two items are a perfect fit with each other. I did manage to dislodge one of the LEDs from its home under the grille flange, just by feeling it up. I broke its dob of glue away from the metal. Another dob of Araldite would fix it but I would have been annoyed if it was my new toy. This is a tough adhesive job and I have clumsy hands and it was hidden away, though.
I fired her up on the Magic 1000 amp which also glows blue of a night time so you have a full-on custom look with little effort. I used some more of that dreaded boom tube bass CD. JLX12 has an undeniable power and weight and if you are in the front and it is in the back you simply are not going to hear any port chuffing noises. However, close up, and given some real lows, it can track them but the port is a bit close to the edge of the box and you can hear the speed of the air in the port exceed the speed of sound, which is dead posh sounding but simply means you can hear it chuffing a bit. This happens with all kinds of sub enclosures. It also tends to play a range of notes far better and louder than others which is again a simple characteristic of ported enclosure design. What it does do along with this, is make bone shaking, panel vibrating lows that will seriously upset the lesser-of-sub equipage when met at the lights and you have that bass peeing contest.
It isn’t posh, but then neither is a Subaru versus an Aston. And make no mistake, this is an incredibly inexpensive item for what you get, which is utterly characteristic of the brand but far more importantly it has been designed with utterly blatant aim. If you are an audiophile, they have other woofers for you. If you are a bass throb monstrous, cone flappin’ hooligan with no patience, limited cash and you want to drive off nodding to the lows right this minute, you really want to think about this box and the amp it can be sold with.
Sound Quality 6.0
Build Quality 7.0
Power Handling 8.0
Efficiency 8.0
Value For Money 8.0
Overall rating 7.4