For people upgrading their sound systems, how many of you have actually installed a power cap in your RX8?

I'm planning on doing two 4080 boxes with a 2 channel 2000W amp. Will it be possible to add a cap to the subs?

I have a power cap in my 626 now and I just sleep better at night knowing that my car won't end up like my friend's Dodge Intrepid; IN FLAMES!

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

 

Yes it is possible. 1 farad for every 1000rms watts of power. If you are worry about getting the car in flames, dont do it yourself & have a audio shop install it for you!

 

A cap does not create power, it uses and stores it. I would make my electrical delivery system as efficent as possible before I considered a cap.

 

The only way his car could really have ended up in flames, would be if he used too small a guage of wire.

Nothing to do whatsoever with or without a cap.

Physics 101:

 

Any recommendations on guage for hooking up those subs?

Cap would be nice to prevent lights from dimming, providing a more constant stream of power to my subs, etc.

 

No to the cap idea, this in principle is what most people think but they are also unaware that most amps already have a good size internal cap bank as well. Make the power and ground circuitry as efficient as possible to maximize the current transfer from the front of the car to the back. Read my grounding sticky as it will apply to you. 12 gauge wire is more than adequate for speaker wiring.

 

Gauge really depends on how much power you will be runnng. I have a 500 watt amp and I am running 4 gauge wire to it all the way from the battery (a bit wider than 1/2" thick), I'm sure that I could get away with 8 gauge, but usually your amp will tell you that it will accept a maximum gauge of wiring. I ususally like to go with the maximum. I'm running 8 gauge to my sub now.

Caps are okay, but the only downside of running a cap is that they:

1) Can explode rather violently if you are rear-ended and they are damaged.
2) Retain their charge after you turn off your veichle, so that if u decide to mess with ur stereo and just unhook the battery, thats not gonna discharge the system, and u run the risk of giving you and your equipment a potentially fatal shock.