critique my setup

[gnatnoop 10+ year member]

in my 1993 explorer i have 2 12" mtx subs in a sealed box, powered by a ap1000 profile amp, 4 3-way 6"x8" kenwood speakers in the doors, powered by a 4 channel ap740 profile amp, wired with a tsunami 2 amp wiring kit and capacitor. it sounds decent, it has a lot of deep, clean, hard hitting bass. but it seems to lack in the mids and highs. i turned on high pass on the 4 channel amp so the front speakers are mid/highs but it still doesnt sound right... should i get components up front? mabey add some kick panel speakers and power the front door speakers by the head unit.. let me know

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[Doingstuffwell 10+ year member]

get rid of the cap. do your big 3.

read the forum, learn, dont have an attitude....

welcome to ca.com

 

[gnatnoop 10+ year member]

get rid of the cap. do your big 3.

read the forum, learn, dont have an attitude....

welcome to ca.com

why get rid of the cap? and what is the "big 3"

 

[01 S 10 10+ year member]

do a search for "big 3", the cap is useless. upgrading your wiring under the hood, hince Big 3, will help you a lot more. cap = bandaid, doesnt fix anything correctly.

 

[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

why get rid of the cap? and what is the "big 3"

Capacitors are more or less useless, sorry to tell you.

Most capacitors are between 1-5 Farads, while most batteries have thousands of farads. At any rate, they only provide a small amount of power and put a bigger strain on your alternator... a battery is much more effecient and will even take less stress off your alternator/battery for a while of playing. A capacitor will give your system a small jolt, but then be useless and won't be able to recharge quick enough for the next bass line.

As for the 'Big 3', it's adding onto the stock wires between your alternator and battery. Since your car runs on a DC current, everything is in cahoots, if you will. The big 3 consists of adding wires onto 3 major spots in your car's electrical system... The positive between the alternator and battery, the ground from the battery to your chassis, and then another link between your engine block and your chassis. This strengthens the electrical current and ensures that your alternator is running at full capacity with ease. The more wire, the more current, thus the more power your alternator can give.

 

[allout13 10+ year member]

definantly run some components if you can. after making the change myself Ill never run coaxials again

 

[nittanylion64 10+ year member]

This is my personal opinion- do away with the Kenwoods-I have never like their sound. Get components up front. What head unit are you running? Like the others said, get rid of the cap and upgrade the Big 3. Other than that, just keep moving up to better sounding speakers.

 

[gnatnoop 10+ year member]

This is my personal opinion- do away with the Kenwoods-I have never like their sound. Get components up front. What head unit are you running? Like the others said, get rid of the cap and upgrade the Big 3. Other than that, just keep moving up to better sounding speakers.

i have the alpine 9884 deck

 

[gnatnoop 10+ year member]

Capacitors are more or less useless, sorry to tell you.Most capacitors are between 1-5 Farads, while most batteries have thousands of farads. At any rate, they only provide a small amount of power and put a bigger strain on your alternator... a battery is much more effecient and will even take less stress off your alternator/battery for a while of playing. A capacitor will give your system a small jolt, but then be useless and won't be able to recharge quick enough for the next bass line.

As for the 'Big 3', it's adding onto the stock wires between your alternator and battery. Since your car runs on a DC current, everything is in cahoots, if you will. The big 3 consists of adding wires onto 3 major spots in your car's electrical system... The positive between the alternator and battery, the ground from the battery to your chassis, and then another link between your engine block and your chassis. This strengthens the electrical current and ensures that your alternator is running at full capacity with ease. The more wire, the more current, thus the more power your alternator can give.

what size wire should i get??

 

[Freelander 10+ year member]

1/0 for the big 3

 

[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

what size wire should i get??

1/0 for the big 3

Yes and no @ Freelander.

1/0 AWG can be quite costly...

Now, if you wanna just do it once, get some good 1/0 gauge. A popular among members of this forum is Knukonceptz's Flex line. (http://www.Knukonceptz.com -- they also have good inline fuse holders, fuse blocks, etc.) If you're running under, I'd say an arbitrary number between 2K and 1.5K RMS, not much is needed. But it of course is dependent on your alternator and how many amps it is.

Personally, my car runs fine with no Big 3 [too broke to do it], and I'm running somewhere along the lines of 1.5K RMS, no dimming and no voltage drops.

You just have to crunch the numbers. But, it's always a plus to put any wire toward the Big 3. Any bit helps.