What is the stock alternator capable of? Options

[maurer11sdk]

Im currently in the process of building a speaker box that will hous 3 amps, 3 subs, 2 caps. Will i need a new alternator eventhough i will have 2 caps? Should i buy three caps instead of the two? What would a new battery do for me? would it help so i dont need a new alternator? Please help me out with this one guys i really need help on this issue/ toppic!!

-Maurer

[AudioFreak]

see what i hear is that caps are good to use when your electrical system is good!! idk that doesnt make sense but thats what the guys on caraudio.com are telling me.. they absolutly think i shouldnt get 2 caps.. i think i need them because my alternator is way to small and it wont be able to hold all that power and if i have a cap it will store the power and save it for those big bass times in the music.. BTW i listen to a lot of rock not much of a fan of rap..

Here's the problem.
If your charging system isn't powerfull enough the cap will hide the problem. But if you get into a piece of music where there is a long bass line it's easy to fully discharge the cap. When that happens you now have the amps pulling more than the car is capable of and the caps are now trying to recharge. So you basically have added another load to a undersized charging system.

To do things right you will need to replace the power cables under the hood. 4gauge should be plenty. Then get a good battery and finally look into a higher output alternator. A few people have had luck with an mr2 alternator. I don't think anyone actually makes a high output model for our cars.

Also realize that adding all the extra amps and subs dosen't get you a whole lot of extra bass. Adding a second sub and doubling the total power will only get you a 3db gain. As others have said scale back and get quality parts and you will be much happier.