Does it matter if you get a big name or smaller name in Capacitors? Do you get what you pay for, or is a 2 farad cap a 2 farad cap whether or not its stinger or pyramid?


-jp

It makes your dick longer when you use a larger cap or one from a major name. :D

Thats all? Why don't they advertise that on tv instead of all Enzyte(sp?) So do I really need to look for a major name, or does it really matter. I'll probably have it hidden away anyways, so performance-wise, will it make a difference in what brand I use?


-jp

From my experience, capacitors don't really "do" anything for your system. From others that I've spoken with (buddy who owns his own audio shop in NJ), they're more of a waste of money than anything.

These are all just opinions of course.

I went to the only pawn shop here that does car audio in this area and found a few things. One of which was an old BatCap. It didn't have a farad rating on it or anything. It said it was 300 amps for 5 seconds and 12 vold, 2.5 amps an hour. What kind of cap would this compare to? They said it went for 200 new and they would let it go for 75 bucks. Also they had an Exant 404m amp for $160 and an older Eclipse 3241 amp for 85. Anyone hear of any of these, well or known of that paticular Eclipse? Can someone translate what all those specs on that BatCap mean and how they compare? Thanks

-jp

Capacitors take a bum rap in my book. They are useful but not a godsend. The idea behind a cap is when your amps need current for a split second, and the electrical system of the car can't quite keep up, the stereo will get the current it needs from the cap. This is good in both theory and practice. If you open up a high end home amp, you'll see huge filter caps inside of it. If you open up a high end car amp, the filter caps will be significant but not huge. Having that current in instantaneous reserve is good. Your headlights won't flicker for one.

Ten years ago, caps were the rage. Everybody needed multiple farads of caps. Then people went, well, why? It didn't really accomplish that much or sound that much better. Now some people say they are bogus. I think the pendulum has swung too far with those statements. A one farad cap can be had easily for $100 or less. It is plenty of capacitance without going overboard. It is a good investment in making your bass pound and your headlights burn at the same time.

JP, now back to your pawn shop deals. Run away from the Bat Cap. It might be good but I can't tell. The biggest problem is I'd never buy a used cap. Capacitors do have limitations in how many times you can cycle them. Think of a cap as a quickly discharging battery. Like batteries, they wear out. I wouldn't even consider a used cap, especially because with a little searching, you can buy a name brand cap for that price or a no name cap for less. You want a large *****, right, JP? :D

The Xtant amp is probably not a good deal, either, mostly because Xtant is on the decline. It is a Mitek (http://www.mitekcorp.com/) company, which is MTX and Coustic, among other companies, and I'm not sure how much support Mitek is giving Xtant now a days. Somebody, and I can't tell you whom, said that they were going away. Mitek isn't, so you'd still have service, but it would be like buying an Oldsmobile. :) The Eclipse is a pretty good deal. We sold tons of those amps. It is 50 watts by 4. My only question for you, JP, is what would you do with it? You're powering your mains off of your new Eclipse deck, right? This would not be a proper subwoofer amp. While I think it is a good deal, I don't think it's a good deal for you.

Keep shopping.

I'm hopefully going to get components up front, then move my infinity's to the back. I was thinking about powering my mains with it. From what I've heard this would be a pretty significant difference, but I would trust your opinion over many people's. What do you think?

I'm a bit confused by your post. You'd power new components up front with the used Eclipse amp? Is that what you're asking?

If it is, yes this would be a huge difference. A real discrete amp versus the chip amps built into decks is a major league improvement. New components are, too, over coaxs in the front doors. Both would make a whole bunch of sense to do.

Checkout www.crutchfield.com Their catalogs have a wealth of info and are free. The staff is well trained and can answer all but the most technical questions. The tech support is for customers but they may connect you anyway if you have a question they cannot answer. Worth a shot!:)

So should I go with the Eclipse amp? What kind of tuning adjustments can be made on it? I forgot to look. I know with my cd5425, it has electronic crossovers, but they're set, I can only turn them on and off. Does it have a rear input and a front input or just a single input? I know those are probably tough questions for an old amp, but if you happen to know I'd love to hear your answer. Also with the xtant, its an older amp, if that makes any difference. From the little i've found on it, it looks like it was before they joined up with mtx or whatever it was that they did. The guy at the shop said it was extremely high quality. If i could talk him down on it to 100-125 and the eclipse to 75( what he said) or maye a little lower, What do you think i should go with?

JP, it's hard to judge the quality of used equipment from this distance. You can better than I. Go back and look at the Eclipse and the Xtant. I'm sure you'll have front and rear inputs on the Eclipse and much more flexible crossovers than what's on your deck. Xtant was real high end equipment in its day and could well be worth the money. If you could get both of them for $200 - and they work - that would be a good deal. Another larger question, impossible for me to answer even if I was right next to you, would be are they the right amps for you? Do you like their looks? Would you be proud to show them off in your car? Will they fit your needs? Just because they'd be a good deal doesn't make them necessarily right for you.

Thanks. I'm going back over there this morning after i get my HU put in and oil changed (at different places... wouldn't it be cool if thye changed my oil and did the hu at the same time?) THe xtant looks a lot nicer, but i would be more than happy to show off either amp. I don't know if either will fit under my seeat. The xtant is long and skinny and the Eclipse is just kinda big. I'll have to try and convince him to let me take on out to the car and set it in. Thanks for all the help. Do you think i would need 8 or 4 gauge wire going to either of these amps? Thanks


-jp

Yes, you'll need heavy duty power wire for two amps. You'll want to run 4 gauge from the battery to your distribution and 6 gauge from there to the amps.

Thank you again for your trust in me. Sucker! ;-) :-o :-P

6 gauge?
you mean 8?

Yupper. I meant 8. :)

JP, that Xtant amp was awesome back when it came out about 5-6 yrs ago. I had an xtant 603x in my car and it was awesome..

The physical dimensions of the 404m are 15.5 x 1.8 x 8... don't know if that will fit under the seats.

Here is the PDF owners manual (http://www.xtant.com/html/techSupport/pdfs/MSeriesMan.pdf) for the amp; which shows the different configurations it is capable of as well as how to tune it.

For those too lazy to download it here is a quick synopsis:

4x50 @ 4 Ohms
4x100 @ 2 Ohms
2x200 @ 4 Ohms Bridged Mono Output
Freq Respx 5Hz to 50kHz
THD <0.08%
Sig to Noise Rat: > 100dB
Output Imp.: 2-8 Ohms
Output Imp. (Bridged): 4-8 Ohms
Supply Volt: 10.5-15 Volts
Fuse: 50 Amp
It came with a 4yr Warranty.

One of the great things other than sound quality about xtant amps are the expansion slots inside. You can purchase various modules from bass modules, filters, xovers to parametric eq's.

When buying the amp make sure it is returnable incase it doesn't power-up or even work.

Xtant 404m (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5876268915&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1) on ebay for $85 bucks. NO, its not mine, not selling it, just thought it looked like a good deal, and since we're talking about it, it seemed relevant.