Cap Required?

[02celica]

Ok so on my way home from our property had the stereo up.. not to loud 25/42 on a pioneer headunit.. playing Shoulder Lean by Young Dro and i noticed i could hear the sub kicking off periodically.. i could hear the bass juster "lighter" so you could say.. So when i finally got home i tested it in my driveway and i didnt even have it to 20 (i had it at like 19/42) and i noticed my amps power indicator light would dim everytime the bass hit.. im wondering if i need a cap for this? I have the amp grounded in the trunk so its not the ground issue.

[BHam00GT-S]

did you sand down the paint where you grounded the amp? To the bare metal? That could be your issue

[02celica]

oh i didnt know you needed to do that? ok ill do that..

[hombredelassrta]

yup :) u shoudlnt need a cap. though i did realize when i had my cap disconected my touchscreen would "line" everytime the sub hit ;) connected the cap back and line was gone

[BHam00GT-S]

yup :) u shoudlnt need a cap. though i did realize when i had my cap disconected my touchscreen would "line" everytime the sub hit ;) connected the cap back and line was gone

True. Caps arew wonderful things. I love mine. I looked at the OP's mods and figured it had to be the ground because Pioneer subs don't normally require amps that in turn require caps... my 1000w amp and 400w amp together require a cap for sure

[02celica]

Yea see when my sub hits at 24+/42 and i hit the dome light it dims when the sub hits.. and now the subs starting to "turn off" when it does.. :-\

[patesgt]

It would probably be a good idea to get a cap. What are your amp and sub specs?

[02celica]

Amp 480 2/1 Channel Not sure when bridged.. and 500 watt rms 1000 watt peak sub!

[BHam00GT-S]

I still feel it's the ground connection. Use a dremel and sand it down to bare metal. Use gold plated connectors if u can find em

[vegeta4ss]

i would sand the ground connection, buy an optima battery, and install a 1FA cap. If you do this there is a very small chance you will get any light dimming from you system after the new parts are installed

[02celica]

Ok guys i did sand it and everything and its still doing the damn amp and sub are still doing it.. i went to touch the amp and the damn thing almost burnt my hand it was so hot.. and it wasnt sitting in the sun.. Now what can be causing this? I think im gonna try to get a optima battery and cap..

edit: Also what is a good company to buy a cap from?

[2way]

What gauge power cable feeding the amp?

[02celica]

8 gauge to and from amp smallest stuff they had at radioshack :mad: :faint:

[kkrkeith7]

I would upgrade the power wire first... 0 or 2 to a distribution block, then 4 ga to each amp. By the way, how is the gain set on the amp? It could be set too high.

[02celica]

i dont need 2 or 0 guage wire for a 500 watt system.. and its not set to high i talked to Jokker (like audio god) about settings and he told me to set them and they are fine.. i think the gain is at like 65-70% tho not above 75%

[kkrkeith7]

8 gauge should be ok if it just one amp under 400 watts rms and its less than 15 feet or so. bcae1.com has a lot of good information. the gain is pretty easy to set. turn all your headunits adjustmends to flat, gain all the way left (minimum) turn the head unit to 3/4 the way up while listening to good quality dynamic music, bass cd if you are doing your sub. and slowly raise the gain on the amp until it starts to distort then back it off a little.

[02celica]

well i mean.. my friend jokker said that anything above 75% is bad for amp and sub.. so i put it at roughly 65-70% im just gonna get a new amp after i just had a talk with my friend that its not getting enough wattage from the amp.. and iim gonna swap out to 4 gauge probaly too.

[kkrkeith7]

4 ga is good. the gain depends on the output voltage of your headunit (between 1 and 9) and in input voltage gain setting on your amp. some older amps have higher input gains by default because most older headunits were low output voltage. so if you have say a 4v pre out like on older alpines you probably wont need to turn the gain much at all if its an older amp. on my soundstream i had the gain turned barely above the minimum. but on the same head unit on my new phoenix gold titanium its about half way up because it accepts up to 9v input sensitivity from a head unit the soundstream amp (bout 10 years old) was probably 1-5 or so. there are more technical ways of setting the gain, but by ear is usually good for most people.

[02celica]

Well i have this headunit http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/v3/pg/product/details/0,,2076_310069882_151934538,00.html and some sony 2/1 channel amp.. it says 480watts on it.. i just want to upgrade my amp so i know that itll be fine with the sub :)