Capacitor Quality and Manufacturers

Is there a difference in quality between all of the manufacturers? I had read that a capacitor is a capacitor, that they all work the same and the only thing that matters is the Farad rating.

Is this true? Are low priced caps as good as expensive caps? I have also noticed that there are temperature ratings. What do I look for?

I have a 94 Blazer S10 with the 4.3L Vortec engine. I believe that the alternator is 100 amps. I am about to install a 450W RMS/800W Max MTX Mono Class D amp. I already have a 200W RMS (no max rating available) Yamaha 4-Channel amp.

Any other recommendations based on the vehicles alternator? Is a capacitor even necessary? Will a cap tighten the bass and improve performance?

Thanks to all who offer their opinion and assistance!

same engine and alt... you DONT need an alternator... do a search on this site also if you dont want to take it from me.

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99 Blazer LT.   Yellow Top. Big 3. Infinity Kappa Speakers All Around. Jensen CD/DVD flip out. 2 Infinity Kappa Perfect 12DVQs powered by a Alpine PDX600.1 (in one custom box, building a FG box)

I too have the same engine. As long as your battery is decent you shouldn't have a problem. A capacitor is not necessary. It is for glamour, not better sound.

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Do whatever makes you happy in life without diminishing the happiness of others

Here's a thread and search that should answer your question.

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Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.

Wow! And I thought I was confused before!

I have mostly read this Flame War Thread! I got up to page 13 and then my brain hurt. What a battle!:

https://www.carsound.com/cgi-bin/UBB_CGI/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=022965;p=1

My conclusions are listed below:

1. The cap must have a low ESR (internal resistance) to be effective. The ESR must be lower than the vehicles battery! And then it's performance gains are only potential, not guaranteed!

2. The amplifier will have internal capacitors to store internal power for the amp caused by voltage spikes. A high quality amp will be designed properly. I know they ise large capacitors in high quality amps and I am assuming that they are for this purpose.

3. The cap will clean up the power supply to the amp, but is it really necessary if the amp already has it's own capacitors? This was my main reason for considering the purchase.

4. There seems to be a lot of evidence and people with hands on experience using a cap to solve the problme of dimming headlights. At this point I would recommend upgrading the vehicles power system, because using a cap is not a guaranteed solution.

I am not going to argue with anyone/everyone. I still want to perform a hands-on listening test, to see if I can detect any audible difference.

What I really want is a test that shows the db's and sound quality of the system with and without the cap. I really want solid, objective, quantifiable data to support or disprove the clean power benefits.

You would think that it would be fairly easy for someone to show us all what is really going on!