? about max power on crossovers

To create a "bandpass" type crossover for some midbass speakers in my car, I plan on running my amp on low-pass, and using an inline capacitor (like a bass blocker) to remove sub-bass from the midbass speakers.

I currently run about 100-125 watts to each midbass speaker.

I have the calculations for what capacitors to use, and will be buying a range of caps to decide which works best for me - from about 500 mF for an 80Hz cutoff (6dB per octave), to a 200 mF for a 200 Hz cutoff.

My question is - how much power can these tiny caps take? Is there a way to determine if one capacitor will handle more power than another? Are the mF ratings all that is important when buying these capacitors, or is there another rating that can tell me how much wattage they will safely handle?

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

~HH

There is a voltage rating right on the CAPS. Most are 14V/16V for car applications. They do not specify the WATTAGE on the capacitor. I use 16/14V caps when I use them in this kind of application.

HOWEVER, if you have multiple amps, you would be best to place the cap in the inputs before going OUT on the speakers you are going to cut-off.   If you only have ONE amp, then, well, they have to go after the amp.

So, a seperate amp for the Mids, then CAP them off before inputting to the amp, then use another amp on the Subs, and use the Amps cut-off.

What I did, was, I have THREE amps in my car. The STOCK infinity amp drives two front door, and two dash speakers. The rear speaker leads from the Infinity amp are split, one set capped off before entering the OPTIMUS amp for the two rear deck speakers. The other set with no cut-off to the Kenwood amp for the Subwoofers, the amp is bridges to TWO 200watt sides, both cut-offs are used for the BASS. . . Pretty easy, and amps are getting cheaper and cheaper.

What type of bandpass filter are you designing (chebyshev, butterworth, elliptical etc)? What type of tolerances for the components are you considering? How well does your design match the speaker specs etc? Just some general design thoughts.

Craig Roush
BSEE