Some questions on amps and capacitors

Some questions on amps and capacitors

I'm a total newb when it comes to audio stuff.
Just wanted know what are the channels in an amp and what do they do? How do the number of ohms affect the sound/performance? And what do those big ass honking capacitors that you can buy seperately do?

Channels are the different pathways for which the audio is sent.."Stereo" is 2 channel audio, consisting of Left and right channels. A four channel amp has a left and right front, and a left and right rear. The front and rear channels are the same. Dolby digital 5.1 has 5 channels and a subwoofer, Left front, center, right front, left rear, right rear, and the subwoofer.

The number of ohms do not specifically affect the sound (although they may affect the loudness)

THe ohms is basically the nominal resistance that the subwoofer's voice coils give. This is important when choosing an amp and a speaker configuration. If your sub is 4 ohms and your amp is not capable of running at 4 ohms then your amp may overheat and be damaged. The lower resistance of your speaker the greater the load will be on your amp (for almost all amps anyways). If you have more than one subwoofer or speaker wired to a single channel, you need to configure your speakers to match what your amp is capable of delivering. There are many websites you can find for how to wire subs together and what not.

Capacitors are devices that hold an electric charge between two conductors with an insulating material in between. They are capable of delivering large amounts of power in short bursts. There are many practical uses for them in this world, however being used as "stiffening" capacitors to help maintain voltage in car audio is not one of there strong points.. For this purpose they are a waste of money in my opinion. I have owned one and noticed almost no difference and it cost me about 150 bucks (2 farads). There are plenty of people who agree with me on that, but all the shops and what not will tell you they work great (since they are making money off of them).

here is a good site that provides good ifnormation about electricity and how different devices affect car audio.

http://www.bcae1.com/

hehe thanks subwoofy

:shock: hehehe me all i know is .... some peeps even win the
drag in bass in tests w/o the cap......

it's all about quality i guess and personal taste
i'm a dummy so i go for JL speaks can't go wrong and they're
pretty tough.... and i pair it with old school rockford amp just coz it's cheaper lol

as much as possible 2 ohm set-up hehe thats what i was thaught