is it still worth doing caps?

We all know caps are useless for everyday listening because once they blow their load, the alternator is then being used to power the amps and recharge the cap simultaneously. Well, what if the car has a beefed up alternator and has the ability to charge the caps and still power the system at high volume? Is it then worth installing some caps?

The system I'm referring to is in a buddy's 2003 GTi, it has 3 JL amps in it - a 480 running front and rear component sets, and two 1000x1's for the bass.

I think youd be wasting your money, if youve upgraded your charging system and installed a new battery and have run adequately sized wire from all locations (battery to distro, battery to ground, alternator to battery  etc..)The only thing your going to get out of a commercial capacitor is probably  some extra weight in your car and maybe a little blue light or a voltage display and if you want those they can be had at a much lower price without the weight.  But you wont get to tell people you have a craptacitor in your "system".

Bling Factor, caps look cool.

Yep, I'm thinking the same thing, it's a waste of time and money. But I'm having a hard time convincing this guy not to get caps. He talked to the guy who will be doing his alternator upgrade, it's a local shop that specializes in automobile electrical, and he told me that when he said to the owner of that shop that I told him caps are a waste of time he said he laughed and said "Then why does anyone buy caps?", and went on to tell him it's not true that caps don't work. Maybe he was trying to sell him caps, I don't know.

So it is true that caps will help maintain voltage level to a small degree, but that doesn't necessarily translate into a noticeable sound difference, whiterob?

He hasn't bought the cap yet, he wants 3 farads worth to cover the 2500RMS watts his amps make at max power.

I'll read up on those Kinetic batteries, I've never heard of them, but I trust you guys. You taught me about the big 3 upgrade and I've done that to my own car.

His friggin obsession with getting caps makes my job harder, because I already have the system setup laid out. It's 90% done, in fact. And now adding these damn caps is just gonna add a lotta work that isn't necessary, and I'm possibley gonna end up undoing some of what I have done. I won't mind the extra little bit of money, I just hope we can still get everything done with the supplies we have remaining.

I also don't see how a cap would improve SQ, but why wouldn't it help achieve higher volume? It makes more power available to the amps, wouldn't that translate to higher peak volume? Or does it, but not enough for the human ear to notice, only an SPL meter that can measure tenths of a decibel. I'm pretty sure these JL amps he has use an unregulated power supply, so the increased voltage ought to make a difference with unregulated power supply style amps.

a cap really wont audibly improve the SQ, but it stabilizes the voltage to the amplifiers so that they work more consistantly so they deliver a steady rms wattage to your speakers.  so it doesn't make them sound any better, but it helps them to not sound worse.