After looking though some of the past posts I decided that it might be best to start a new thread. Some of the information is pretty unclear and I'm not one to bump month old threads. I'm not a sound guru by any means, but I do consider myself a good reasearcher. I understand that some of the people on these forums have been working with car audio for a long time and I know that asking you is a lot better than asking local businesses.
Anyway, my problem lies in the fact that my lights (headlights, interior lights, etc) all dim when a hard hitting bass note hits. Which is pretty frustrating to me because I know my system is capable of really hitting hard.
My question is, what one of the "big three" should I purchase in order to stop the dimming of my lights entirely. Capacitor? Yellow Top Battery? Alternator?
I'm currently driving a 2000 monte carlo ss with a stock alternator that pumps 102 amps. My car battery is stable at roughly 13.5 volts at all times, running and sitting. My setup is as follows:
Amp: Audiobahn A8002T 800Watt 2-Ch Amp
Deck: Alpine CDA-9825 CD/AM-FM Receiver New 04 XM High Power
I was thinking that a capacitor might do the trick and since its the cheapest it would be the easiest thing to get. However in reading several posts across numerous message boards, I've seen that most people agree that it only masks the problem and doesnt really fix it. In doing a little reasearch of my own I find that it takes roughly eight seconds to recharge a capacitor to half power. Does that mean that if the bass notes are hitting constantly that my lights still have a chance of dimming?
I'm all for buying a new battery, the cost of getting it mounted (since I cant really do it myself) is probably going to hurt my wallet as well.
Really an alternator would be a last resort since they cost in the hundreds, but I want to actually take care of the problem to be able to listen to my music the way it was meant to be listened to.
Any information is greatly appreciated and I thank you in advance.