Caps. Here is the man I choose to believe.
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I didn't say that more or larger caps was a sign of better SQ. I said that "better" amps tend to have more capacitance built into them. In my personal opinion, discussing the SQ differences between various decent amps is futile anyway.
If you want your tunes to stay sweet when you lay on the ****, you need to keep the voltage supply up - especially in an amp with and unregulated power supply. That takes a lot of reserve power and IMO, in an SQ setup, you get more reserve per cubic inch in a capacitor than other methods. Add that to the other side benefits of running a cap and I believe it a no-brainer.
If you want your tunes to stay sweet when you lay on the ****, you need to keep the voltage supply up - especially in an amp with and unregulated power supply. That takes a lot of reserve power and IMO, in an SQ setup, you get more reserve per cubic inch in a capacitor than other methods. Add that to the other side benefits of running a cap and I believe it a no-brainer.
I found this information on a 2006 post from him. MP3.com
Name: Larry Frederick
Job: I am the USA distributor for Elettromedia and responsible for all technical issues concerning Audison, Hertz and Connection products.
Portion of his Bio:
I designed all the Phoenix Gold products from way back when (MS250, 275, 2125, MPS2220, 2500-and the MPH-6300($125,000.00 amplifier).Tuned over 1000 WINNING IASCA and USACi cars. Judged 300 events, Head judged 3 finals, help write 3 of the rule books, trained over 10,000 salesmen and installers in 27 countries and 44 states, have 5 design and engineering awards and 2 design patents.
Oh, and here is his take on caps:
-stiffening caps should ALWAYS be used, but on the WHOLE system NOT the bass amp. Caps are just BIG AC filters (hook up a dual trace scope -all REAL car audio retailers have them (yeah right!!) Look at the DC in (looks like a moving semi flat line) and then notice the AC components on top of the DC. Huge spikes above and below the DC. This is AC ripple. Check in front of the cap, then after the cap. At least 20 dB ripple reduction! This is what caps really do! Filter out AC Ripple! Makes ALL audiophile car audio systems sound better as the DC is filtered. And anything over 2 Farads is a total waste of time. RF proved that years ago. As well as Alma Gates. Her Bronco(way back in the PPI days) had something like 40 capacitors. Did you know that after running the Bronco for weeks with caps, they disconnected them because the vehicle played LOUDER without the caps connected??? Interesting,Huh!!! Again...take all of this will a grain of salt. Test Test test. Prove it to yourself. Caps are a REALLY good thing and should be in EVERY system out there. My opinion.
Now I'm sure as hell not as smart as this guy, but that is why i am using a cap on my lowly TC4004. Can I hear a difference? Probably not. Except for the cost, will it hurt? Probably not.
Cheers!
Name: Larry Frederick
Job: I am the USA distributor for Elettromedia and responsible for all technical issues concerning Audison, Hertz and Connection products.
Portion of his Bio:
I designed all the Phoenix Gold products from way back when (MS250, 275, 2125, MPS2220, 2500-and the MPH-6300($125,000.00 amplifier).Tuned over 1000 WINNING IASCA and USACi cars. Judged 300 events, Head judged 3 finals, help write 3 of the rule books, trained over 10,000 salesmen and installers in 27 countries and 44 states, have 5 design and engineering awards and 2 design patents.
Oh, and here is his take on caps:
-stiffening caps should ALWAYS be used, but on the WHOLE system NOT the bass amp. Caps are just BIG AC filters (hook up a dual trace scope -all REAL car audio retailers have them (yeah right!!) Look at the DC in (looks like a moving semi flat line) and then notice the AC components on top of the DC. Huge spikes above and below the DC. This is AC ripple. Check in front of the cap, then after the cap. At least 20 dB ripple reduction! This is what caps really do! Filter out AC Ripple! Makes ALL audiophile car audio systems sound better as the DC is filtered. And anything over 2 Farads is a total waste of time. RF proved that years ago. As well as Alma Gates. Her Bronco(way back in the PPI days) had something like 40 capacitors. Did you know that after running the Bronco for weeks with caps, they disconnected them because the vehicle played LOUDER without the caps connected??? Interesting,Huh!!! Again...take all of this will a grain of salt. Test Test test. Prove it to yourself. Caps are a REALLY good thing and should be in EVERY system out there. My opinion.
Now I'm sure as hell not as smart as this guy, but that is why i am using a cap on my lowly TC4004. Can I hear a difference? Probably not. Except for the cost, will it hurt? Probably not.
Cheers!
It's two different things......
(1) In a power supply of an amplifier large capacitors do 'filter' out the AC ripple. These caps would be placed between the power transformer and output stage.
(2) in regards to the regular 1 farad (and larger) stiffening caps we as an industry sell, the capacitors main function is more of a bandaid to a problem. I like to call the stiffening cap a 'resevoir of power' , when the vehicles charging system cannot supply enough current to the amplifier, having the stiffening cap in-line gives a large resevoir for the amplifier to draw from before taxing the charging system. The cap is always being charged as long as the car is running.
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