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"Stiffening capacitors can help your amplifiers deliver up to 50% more output on those demanding peak bass notes. Most automotive alternator/battery systems simply lack the ability to produce large amounts of instantaneous power. This is exactly the type of power that car audio amplifiers crave. Adding a stiffening capacitor to your system can add tremendous bass punch and improve transient response. One of the other benefits of stiffening capacitors is the ability to reduce line loss. Line loss is created by the power cable itself. Long runs of power cable associated with mounting amplifiers in automotive trunks creates line loss, especially during deep bass notes. Stiffening capacitors help maintain appropriate system voltages at the amplifier.." i still think thats why you should use a cap, they just summed it up better then i could

 
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well, like i said, if you can prove it, youve got 5 grand

 
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spring of 98 mtx didnt have caps....i was there when they bought streetwires...thats when all the cap training started.

whats your name..a good friend of mine worked there at that time

 
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i never said they had caps in 98, nor did i say i learned it from mtx, i just stated i worked there, i learned some info on them from co workers, but that was about it, i worked there for about 4 months, but then moved to idaho


i go by curt,

and i wont give my last name, from what i know i was the only curt / curtis that worked there at the time


and im not going to go out of my way to try to prove something like that, im talking from my own use of caps, and what i know, that its better to have it then not on some stereos, and when i installed my cap on my system it took around 15 mins to total charge up, using 4g cable, and i had a volt meter so i knew when it was up to 14v, i wasnt running the car if that matters or does the first charge of it just take longer ?

 
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Did you use a resistor like on a circuit board when you charged it? That would cause it to take a while.....other than that, it should be instant.

 
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ya i use that, i just got off the phone with a few local shops, they all said it depends on the size of the cap and the resistor as to how long it takes

 
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if this is a quote from a company, then perhaps they can give you the evidence to back it up. then you cna take that evidence to richard clark, and collect yoru $5000.

like his post said, even if you live in norway, and a roundtrip plane ticket cost $4000, thats still a grand of profit in yoru pocket. That is, if you really believe in what you say.

Richard Clark certainly does, he has the laws of science behind him.

A capacitor does nothing for audio performance. Headlight Performance, however, is arguable......

 
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This is great...............

 
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and everyone knows audio systems are all about headlight performance...

 
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ya damned right.

 
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I got some new headlight bulbs, and my spl went up from 144 to 147!

 
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I like to think of cap as some kind of lake(used in audio only). The "lake" is being fead by a larger body of water at a constant rate. You can draw from this lake little bit at a time with no problems. But the lake can't keep up to high demands because it takes time to fill.

It turns out you could do without the lake if you could get more water out of that larger body. And if you over use that lake it ends up being more trouble then its worth. Even if you made the lake bigger you still stuck with the same amount of water coming into the lake. In the end the lakes ok if you don't put to much demand on it, but you don't realy need it. If your demand is to much just get a larger body of water with a better flow rate......

 
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omega, id for sure check out that carsound post, its a good read

 
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Yeah, its a good read. I just like to put a abstract spin on things to help some people get a better understanding. I was taught in basic electronics to think of eletricity as water...

 
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So should the guy get the Cap or not?

 
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the guy should get the cap if light dimming at night bugs him. otherwise, its a waste of money.

and also a waste to think that it does anything else. the laws of physics dont lie, ever.

 
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Dizzle stated to me in a previous post a few weeks ago or so that if my lights are dimming at night my spark plugs are suffering also, anybody care to elaborate on this and the harm it's doing to my engine, because when i trade may car in for a BMW in 4 years i want to make sure the next owner knows my spark plugs used to dim.

 
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Unless of course your are running Pyle, Pyramid, Boss, Legacy, or some other crap like he probably is.

I can tell you from my personal experience that a capacitor did absolutely nothing for my system, and the systems of 4 of my friends. I'm not as knowledgable as some of the guys on this forum, however, I do know quite a bit about car audio. One of the first things I learned is that caps do absolutely nothing.

As a matter of fact, I have a cap sitting on my desk. It's a paperweight. One of my cousins gave this to me thinking perhaps I can use it in my car. I haven't even attempted to install it because we all know it's a huge waste of time.

 
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*shrug* weve delt with this issue many times on this forum. if it didnt work for you, then thats fine, but the fact of the matter is, it does work for a great many more than it doesnt. so, whether its you, your equipment, or your car, (and dont get me wrong, I dont mean to say you have inferior OR superior any of this, merely different!)
again, the fact is that many more people have noticed beneficial effects of a capactor on headlight dimming.

the ones whom it doesnt work for merely speak out more. youve still got the issues!

but no, no need to drag up a thread from 2003 now that its 2005 to start an issue about capacitors.

But I'll tell you what. the cap did nothing for you. furthermore, it did nothing for any of your friends, so they cant use it either. Ill save this thread and shoot you a PM next time I take a trip to irvine, and we can meet up for lunch or something and I'll take it off your hands. no mess, no clutter! clean and easy. I'll find a good home for it so its not buggin you anymore.

 
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FINALLY! Rabbit, you've got an answer. At long last, anxiously checking this post every day since Aug of 03' has paid off. Someone replied!

 
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boy this thread was a good read. thx for all the info
btw, im running a 300w RMS sub w/out any cap, and gettin no light dimming as well.

 
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i'm puttin in two 450w rms subs, figure i'll get sum dimming?

 
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ludlam seriously owned YOU!!!

 
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To those of you putting in the new replies, please, read through the thread. I linked it in a couple of more recent threads for informational purposes only. This thread is an old thread, but there is a lot of useful information posted in here about the functionality of caps, at least by a select few members here. Don't reply to tell someone a year later that they got owned. Read through it for the information that is on here that is useful, so as not to have to ask the same question, prompting people to give the same answers. The main reason it's here is to learn about the functionality of capacitors. Educational purposes, so to speak...