1600w amp... will i need a cap?

[Mad Myche]

Exactly right. Electronically what a capacitor does is resist changes in voltage, either due to a higher demand (a big bass beat) or a change in system voltage (due to that bug beat OR reduced alternator output)

[vicente]

Sounds gud guys... i think ill invest in a second battery.... ok so now..... riddle me this... y do my rear speakers sound lyk crap?... ther sony explodez... and i even got the face... i kno there cheap but im sure they shudnt sound lyk that.....hmmmm

[vicente]

Ah... i c i c.... so turn it down when idling.... or buy a bettr alternator.... hmm... ok... i got my amp kit in today... so imma wire this baby up tomarro!!... hope i remember how... jus power, groumd, and remote wire ryt?... hahaha...

[BFF_Larry]

get rid of the cap.

[vicente]

Okay... its all wired up with out the cap..... but the amp wont turn on.... were do i put the remote wire?

[sethjamesrimrodt]

Are u running an aftermarket head unit or a factory one?

[vicente]

After market.... i connected it to the blu with a line.... and nothing.... can i try to hook it straight to the battery jus to c if the . Amp works?..... help!!!

[sethjamesrimrodt]

After market.... i connected it to the blu with a line.... and nothing.... can i try to hook it straight to the battery jus to c if the . Amp works?..... help!!!

To see if the amp works yes you can do that.

Do you have a volt meter? Check to see if the amp has power. Check to see if that blue with white striped wire from the head unit has +12 volts

[vicente]

Sweet its werkn gud.... i hookd the remote line to the iluminator.....

[vicente]

Sweet its werkn gud.... i hookd the remote line to the iluminator.....

[BFF_Larry]

dont use the blue remote wire off a headunit,

use the red ignition wire on the headunit instead

[Bugsi]

Electronically what a capacitor does is resist changes in voltage, either due to a higher demand (a big bass beat) or a change in system voltage (due to that bug beat OR reduced alternator output)

Well, no. While that's what you're looking for in the DC "paralleled to a car battery" application; electrically a capacitor is perfectly happy to change voltages up and down all day long depending on the circuit it's in, and what kind of signal you're feeding into it. High frequency alternating signals fly right through capacitors with virtually zero resistance.

In the application of a car audio amplifier, the idea of the capacitor is to prevent the supply voltage to the amplifier from sagging under heavy load. If you're running really badly designed equipment I could see that as potentially being a problem, but if you buy decent gear and have a good battery, alternator, and connecting cabling, a capacitor will likely do next to nothing.

Also, people saying things like you'll be pushing 1600 watts really doesn't help to promote a decent understanding of what your amplifier does. An amplifier capable of pushing 1600 watts, driving a 2 ohm speaker, will only be pushing 1600 watts when the signal to the speaker is at + or - 56 volts, and pushing 32 amps of current through the speaker. Starting with a nominally +12v car battery, boosting this to +112 volts of potential is electrically do-able, but if you keep it up very long, you'll be draining your battery pretty fast. You'll also likely be damaging your hearing, as the only way you'd be pushing this sort of power continuously is if you were playing a continuous tone at maximum possible volume. (Do you do that often?) It's cool to say you have a 1600 watt amplifier, but you can play Yankee Stadium with 100 watts, and if you listen to your system at a level we'd consider "normal", you're likely pushing no more than a couple watts 99.9% of the time. By all means, load up with whatever makes you happy, but know that deep down you're using a couple watts most of the time.

[vicente]

Ah
.. icic... thanks for the knowledge!! Gud stuff... now u just figured out my amp is only supplying 350watts cuz my speakers are 4 ohm....;(