is it still worth doing caps?
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=115308
Printed Date: May 02, 2024 at 11:55 AM
Topic: is it still worth doing caps?
Posted By: nagsr95
Subject: is it still worth doing caps?
Date Posted: July 26, 2009 at 10:21 PM
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.
Replies:
Posted By: whiterob
Date Posted: July 27, 2009 at 1:14 AM
Well why would you want a cap if the charging system is already adequite?
A cap will help to dampen the voltage but it won't really result in a noticeable difference in the sound. So I wouldn't see why you would still want one if the charging system is already good.
Posted By: simplyfalling
Date Posted: July 27, 2009 at 7:26 AM
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".
Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: July 27, 2009 at 7:51 AM
whiterob wrote:
Well why would you want a cap if the charging system is already adequite?
Bling Factor, caps look cool. ------------- Let's Go Brandon Brown. Congratulations on your first Xfinity Series Win. LGBFJB
Posted By: nagsr95
Date Posted: July 27, 2009 at 4:05 PM
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?
Posted By: mike swanson
Date Posted: July 27, 2009 at 4:52 PM
Ive said this b4 use a Kinetik Batt
KHC600 has more power than a 100 farad cap.
Im sure your cap is 1 farad
This batt will start a V8 with no prob.
800 amps of power reinforcement and is small
No blinky lights tho
Posted By: nagsr95
Date Posted: July 27, 2009 at 7:12 PM
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.
Posted By: whiterob
Date Posted: July 28, 2009 at 12:57 AM
nagsr95 wrote:
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.
See that is more of the problem IMO. People that don't really know why to use a cap but see other people use them and think they need one. People use caps because they think they need one or people tell them they need it to sell them one.
Caps do work so it's not like they do nothing. There will actually be caps in an amplifier so they are useful in car audio. It is just that most people use the power caps for the wrong reasons and don't truly know what they do. So a cap will help a little if you have a sufficient charging system but not to the point that it is worth the money.
A cap will not make your system louder. I have had people try to argue that it can slightly increase sound quality but I have never been given a good argument. I personally have never heard a difference in sound quality and I'm sure many people here would agree. If they made a difference in SQ then I'm sure people that do competition SQ vehicles would use them.
If your friend wants to buy a cap I would let him. I would just want him to hear the difference before and after and then say that it was worth the money. 
Posted By: nagsr95
Date Posted: July 28, 2009 at 11:12 AM
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.
Posted By: soundnsecurity
Date Posted: July 28, 2009 at 5:10 PM
nagsr95 wrote:
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. -------------
Posted By: whiterob
Date Posted: July 29, 2009 at 5:23 AM
nagsr95 wrote:
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 won't create power at all. It will also not increase voltage. A cap will only store power. Considering that the cap itself will use some power your amp will get slightly less power with the cap there (although not enough to really make a noticeable difference).
All a cap will do is help to "smooth" out the voltage peaks. Think of it as a shock absorber like on your car. If you have ever riden in a car with bad shocks you would see that it will bounce up and down often because of the springs. A shock absorber will keep the car from moving up and down suddenly. This is the same thing a cap does to the voltage.
This link will give you a rough idea of what I am talking about. Forget the numbers and other stuff just notice the graph. The red would be the voltage without a cap and the blue is the voltage with a cap. As you can see the average voltage would be about the same although there is not as much of a range in voltage.
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