Capacitors, ^ Did I spell that correct? ^ Options

[yyet]

Well, I've been reading everyones post about their audio and stuff and I wanted to know what exactly does a capacitor do and is it neccessary?

Heres what I am running.

Component 6 1/2 type Alpine R fronts
Coaxial 6 1/2 type R Alpine R rears
MTX MXA-6004 Amp (75W RMS X 4 Chan)
Kenwood KAC-729S (600W Max 200W Rms bridged)
Rockford 12" Subwoofer

Only got 1 battery.
Oh yeah, i heard not having a capcitor dims your headlights...
I got Euro Eyes HID lights.

YES YES I KNOW... Thats a good system i got... Besides the sub, I was broke when I bought it

[dustinkemp]

i always thought that a capsitor and a batery did almost the same thing...
they both save power (i think) and keep the altnator form dying

[creis]

a Capacitor or a cap for short, is like a batt. sept its capable of putting out more of a power spike then a batt. so when in a song it all the sudden has a huge bass pound the cap that has taken and saved power from your batt. can supply the extra power in order to make that pound and not cause it to be week or cause your lights to dim etc.

[tangcla]

Capacitors do sweet fk all. Don't bother wasting your money, spend the money on a monoblock for your sub, and/or decent deep cycle battery instead.

They are *supposed* to provide power on big bass hits, which make your headlights dim. But a monoblock amp will already prevent that, and getting a decent battery which can cope with the power drain will do more.

Also, capacitors have (in what I have seen and heard) actually created less power - a few guys who do SPL comps swear not to use capacitors as it causes them to lose precious dB

[creis]

yeah there is no replacement for a real good batt. and a mono amp would save you some power consumption, but from my exsperiance with em, they do help althogh if your playing a song with a big bass hit every 5 secconds, its not gana make a diff.

[tangcla]

The theory behind a capacitor is that it is able to deliver a large current much quicker than a battery - due to the fact that a capacitor is a temporary storage of power, and also because the capacitor is closer to the amp than the battery.

But remember capacitors are capable of doing two things: supplying power, and also dampening the flow (ie. normalising). Caps will do the first one well, but as creis said, when the capacitor is depleted, the much-needed power for the n+1th (mathematical terminology hehe) bass hit will go to recharging the capacitor instead of supplying it to the amp.

In short, my 2c: if you don't already have a capacitor, don't bother getting one. If you already have one, sell it, and your amp, and get yourself a decent amp.

[yyet]

sigh, i thought my amp was pretty good. I know the speakers are though

[ShadowFX]

Yeah, caps are a band aid fix. Won't actually solve the problem. Like they've said before, buy a better battery, deep cycle, and improve your grounding if you havent already.

[pnoywitmustrdsau...]

get your self a jl audio 500/1 d class mono block amp works like a charm. and this amp is considered competitive as well!!!

[tangcla]

get your self a jl audio 500/1 d class mono block amp works like a charm. and this amp is considered competitive as well!!!

yep, the 500/1 is a very good amp.
The JL range of amps are very good

[pnoywitmustrdsau...]

i should know i got one hehehe its so sweet check out my profile i got one good pic of the setup. all jl components and it didnt cost me an arm and a leg

[6th_celi_vert]

i dont know what kind of systems they have but I have ALWAYS had capacitors...they save you alot of trouble and dimming. although they are right in what purpose the cap actually serves, I wouldnt go without one EXCEPT in your case...if your not pushin more than 1000 watts, i wouldnt worry about it. Here's what i have.

2 Rockford Fosgate Stage 3 12" Punch's

2 Rockford Fosgate 1000 Watt Punch Amps.

Rockford Fosgate Power, and ground wires.

Sony component Speakers and a Panasonic Head Unit.

Im pushin over 1,500 watts and i have a 1 farad Memphis Capacitor. And it provides more than enough "Extra Power" for the Harder hittin bass.

Oh and by the way...You went Rockford...im proud of ya!!

[StreetRacing10PS...]

Capacitors do sweet fk all. Don't bother wasting your money, spend the money on a monoblock for your sub, and/or decent deep cycle battery instead.

thats the best idea. i have 2 12 inch kicker subs and a 1,000 watt fan cooled kicker amp that i keep pluged in at all times and a deep cycle battery works fine.

[Clipsetuner]

A class D amp, might use a little less power, but when your also stepping up your power its not gonna matter that much, all a cap is a temp storage device of power, it will help regulate some of the power going to the amp.

A cap is probley a decent fix unless your gonna run more power, if so I would get a second battery, I was planning on running dual optima yellow tops in my spare tire well.

DTE

[tangcla]

Friend of mine runs 2.4kW out of a Concept amp and six subs. No dimming. Deep cycle battery.