best place to put cap?

Where's the best place to put a cap. Before the Distibution box or after going to only the subwoofer amplifier?

In the dumpster. BUT, if you've laready bought one before finding out that they are essentially useless, immediately before the distribution block.It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

The benefits of a cap (for the dollar) are debatable. It depends on several variables with the most prominent factors being the type music that you listen to and the type of power supply that your sub amp has. In the event that you have one or do decide to use one the closer you place it to the amp the better of a job it will be able to do. I suggest physically placing it as close as possible to your sub amp. Placing the cap before a resistive connection (distribution block) or other electrical devices (amps) will negate the benefits of its existence.

speakermakers wrote: The benefits of a cap (for the dollar) are debatable. It depends on several variables with the most prominent factors being the type music that you listen to and the type of power supply that your sub amp has. In the event that you have one or do decide to use one the closer you place it to the amp the better of a job it will be able to do. I suggest physically placing it as close as possible to your sub amp. Placing the cap before a resistive connection (distribution block) or other electrical devices (amps) will negate the benefits of its existence.

The utility of a cap depends far more on the quality of the vehicle's existing power source and the quality of the amp's power supply than on the type of music.  I agree that placing one as close as possible to the amp is the best approach, although I disagree with the last statement about negating benefits.  Care to elaborate on that one?

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And so begins the next installment of "Good Cap, Bad Cap"...

sarcomax wrote: And so begins the next installment of "Good Cap, Bad Cap"...

Not at all.  I just want to know what he's talking about.  Maybe I'm missing something.

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I know, it's just that this topic comes up like once a month and grows to 12 pages in about a week sometimes depending on how many new cap lovers we have. I know that I have never benifited from a cap, my guess as to where he was coming from is that if the cap was there to help just the sub, and the cap is put in a location that allows other sources of power draw to access it, then the performance of the sub amp is lower than it would be if it was directly set up to power the sub amp. Just speculation on my part, but it is really slow at work today, my wedding is in 6 days, and I am trying to do as little actual "work" as possible. Hawaii here I come!!!  

sarcomax wrote: And so begins the next installment of "Good Cap, Bad Cap"...

Good Cap, Bad Cap... Funny.

sarcomax wrote: but it is really slow at work today, my wedding is in 6 days, and I am trying to do as little actual "work" as possible. Hawaii here I come!!!

1: Damn, gotta WORK on a holiday? That sucks! 2: Don't do it!!!! I don't mean the Hawaii part, but the other part! Oh, and sarcomax, I have me a new toy coming for my bike! A smaller front sprocket, and an EFI Controller... oughta add about 14HP at the rear wheel, and the smaller front will make the holeshots even MORE fun! Check out the Bandit 1250 section over at www.holeshot.comIt all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

Well Dyohn as far as your question about negating the benefits due to the caps location, what exactly is it? The very idea of using a cap is to stabilize voltage for a very brief period of time. Any voltage drop caused by a connection or distance of wire will defeat this. The voltage near the cap will be stabilized but the voltage at other points along the parallel circuit will not be as stable. Calculate dynamic voltage drop and use Ohms law to calculate total voltage at various points along the parallel charging system and you will find that the voltage is most stable closest to the cap. I fail to see the confusion here. Yes the other amps in the system and every other electrical component is connected to the cap but not equally. The choice of music has a profound effect on the total demand that the audio system puts on the charging system. Due to a large difference in crest factors amongst popular recordings available to the general public (MP3 bass music with 5db crest factor vs. country music with 19.5 db crest factor) the amperage requirements may vary by a factor of 20! I am sure that you are aware that the RMS power out put and consequently power input requirements of an amplifier vary with RMS of the signal at the signal inputs of an amp. And I am sure that you are aware that the RMS of the signal is determined by the music recording. No Good cap – bad cap. Always good. Not always good for the pocket. Never herd of an audio system suffering from to much capacitance.