I would post in the audio section, but I need a quick response.

My friend is buying all this **** for me to install in his car . Amog this stuff is THREE audiobahn amps. One A235HCQ (35 watts x 2 @ 4 Ohms stereo), one A275HCQ (75 watts x 2 @ 4 Ohms stereo), and one A1500HCQ (2000 watts x 1 @ 1 Ohm mono). The 1500 is gonna run one Audiobahn 10" sub at 2000 watts @ 1 Ohm, and the others are gonna run the interior speakers (35x2 for rear, 75x2 for front). The deck is a Sony MEX-5DI, with Infinity Kappa 50.5cs for the fronts, and 32.5cf for the rears, and an Audiobahn AWT10x linear compression sub if it matters. I need to know the "rule of thumb" for capacitance (sp?). Im wondering how big of a cap hes gonna need. I remember reading somewhere that 1 farad per 1000 watts is correct, but can anyone confirm this? If this is true, Id need close to 3 farads of caps. Audiobahn sells a 3 farad cap that hes looking at (he like Audiobahn), but before he buys it, I want to be able to tell him its the right thing to buy. He drives a 92 Miata if it matters about the electrical system at all. Thanks for any help whatsoever .

~T.J.

 

NEVER seen a car stereo in my entire life LOL NOT

Ok with this kinda power what does he thinks hes getting ? A mega watt system sound with 20 10" subs, tell yuo buddy to buy one 4 channel amp and run the whole system, save the mind blowing power for something like a blazer. Man 10" w/2000 watts? Give me a break...

You are gonna get all that in a miata trunk I dont think so ? LOL

 

Gee Mike...Thanks. No answer? The stuff is on the way, no time to try and change the components now . I just need to know how big of a cap to have him get .

~T.J.

 

Chances are he'll never need the cap. I mean 2000 watts.... right, especially with only 35 or 75 to drive the components. Unless he likes to listen to the bass so loud the music is unrecognizable, he'll never even get to 500 W for the whole system. Maybe, and I mean maybe, put in a half farad cap. But I'd try it without at first.

 

A fool and his money soon part, but at any rate, the general rule for caps are if yuo cant fit a bigger alt / and/or battery use caps. They are a band aid at about 1200 watts per farad

 

Actually, 1000w to 1 farad is the correct answer. This Audiobahn amp won't really be putting out 2000w though. You should be able to get by with a 1.5 farad cap happily and reasonably priced. You really should upgrade the alternator though. It is a much better and more permanent solution. Also, put in a new GOOD battery when you install the cap. Too often I have seen people have a 4 year old battery and try to install a big system with it. Get a new battery.

Oh, and for the alternator. Take a look at www.powermaxx.com

Now, who am I to give advise on car audio? Only someone who was a professional installer for 10 years, and a former judge of many soundoff organizations, including IASCA. I also used to own my own shop. PM me if you have any more questions.

 

Which begs the obvious...why don't you still have the shop?

 

hahahha lol...




hey Mario.... tow my car...

 

I never liked caps, and I still dont.. Caps are mearly band aids for a weak power supply...

And I have been installing stereos professionally for 12 years. I have/had a Master Installer MECP cerification (whoopty do , what a joke that is) ...

 

...I can change the batteries in my cordless mouse...

 

ide say with that huge amp, buy more really good subs and be another bass head. All that for one 10" sub? WOW!!!

 

Tell your friend to return all that stuff, its horribly mismatched. Theres no way he needs all that power, tell him to go for clarity and not just annoying bass.

 

Well since im an audio vet just the same like mike and david I have to throw in my two sense




I agree "****" is what most of it is,
lets face it audiobahn is ver pretty with the flames and all,and great if your into showing off and want to win some trophys for the look and not the sound,
otherwise tell him to spend the same amount on some good equipment like memphis or my favorite MA


any subwoofer that calls their foam surround "phat" is very questionable
all in all it wont be 1ohm, more like 1.5

yuk
why go cheap here?

with that amp and the car "guessing 60-80 amp alt?" I would go with the biggest gell cell battery you can fit then grab about 2 nice 1.5 or 2 farad caps

yes the vehicle matters alot,
where do you think the power comes from?
you have to take into consideration the cca "cold cranking amps" of the battery,
then the alt amperage
and the power wire size


suggestions,
he will need much better highs,
the kappas with that setup will sound rediculous,
much like a stock stereo with a couple 15's in the trunk on a 1,000 watt amp,
go with some nice components in the front that handle at least 600 watt per total setup "thats tweets and midbass drivers"

the 10" is going to sound way to punchy and only hit good bass at 75hz+
mainly because of its size,the fact that theres only 1,and the breathing room required for the best qts

you will want to find a subwoofer the will perform well in a very small enclosure,
but that will all depend on your desired qtc,
with the setup that your talking about i see a qtc of 1.1 or higher in that little miata trunk.
not good

 

You also have to remember too, trying to make a lot of bass/sound etc in a convertible is like trying to fill a bucket with water, when the bucket has holes in it

 

Ok, just to clear some stuff up...The soft top is removed, and he only uses the hard top. The box isint going in the trunk, its going inside on the back deck where the soft top used to go. The amps are going in the truck so we can use the shortest battery cables to the distribution box/amps. Anyway, just clearing some stuff up.

~T.J.

 

Oh yeah, and whats the cheapest price one of you guys could get me a Sony CDX-MP70, or a MEX-5DI?

~T.J.

 

From MY personal experiences, and everything that I've done for installing car audio.... that set of fronts and mid he has are GREAT speakers, but he's running WAY too much juice to that sub. My general rules of thumb are 1000W = 1.0farad cap. But don't skimp on wires! get as thick as your budget allows! And my other general rule of thumb, other installers will back me up on this.... but it's generally a good idea to have only 3 times the wattage to your sub that your front speakers are getting (i.e. your front speakers run 35W each x2 = 70W. Take that 70W and triple it, and you should be at 200-250W for the sub. But, that's if you are going for a matched system.... it sounds to me like your buddy is WAY overpowering the sub, and not realizing that staging, and balancing are what make up a TRU performance system.... not just how loud you can rattle the license plate on the trunk.

 

I could have bought one at dealer cost at work, but now I put in my notice there i cant get one anymore.. But I think delaer cost is like $289... try www.etronics.com

This ought to make a nice little system for you frend to think hes driving around in a barrel. But good luck...

 

Is this guy a ???? I oughta his ***.

 

I agree 100%. The Infinity speakers are GREAT. I love them. As far as the whole system goes, he bought it, Im just installing it.

~T.J.

 

great for what?
who here has actually compaired them to a set of boston's or mb's ?

 

Nothing touches a Quart PERIOD!

But man look at the price tag, I got a set of Q compenents for a guy and at my cost there were EXPENSIVE!

 

mb's are way too much money, although I agree they are a killer speaker.

 

Since the guy went and bought all the stuff before asking you for any advice, I say toss it all in and throw a single 1.0 F cap for the bass amp. Just tell him up front that you can't just pour power into a sound system with a bunch of mis-matched components and expect to get great sound. Unless you pull the gain all the way down on the A1500HCQ to try to balance with the front stage, it's gonna be a booming piece of crap. But then, what's the point of having that amp, then? Just make sure you tell him up front that you wash your hands of the whole sound quality issue since you were not consulted prior to the hardware purchase and just toss that junk into the MX-5...

 

I know, I know...My cousin has all MB's in his FD and they sound GREAT. But bang for buck, an Infinity sounds better than a Kenwood, or most other sprakers for that fact IMO...

~T.J.