Hey guys dont know how many of you guys are running multiple amps but how does the factory battery stand up to it? Are you guys running capacitors or just straight from the batteries? Second are you guys running to battery wires or using distribution blocks? Sorry for all the questions but im thinking about adding a second amp for some components and seeing what guys doing

 

should be fine, won't need caps unless you are going bananas

 

its not about how many amps, its about how much current consumption you are going to use, regardless if its one amp or 10...

in the Z and Gs...if you go honestly over 4-500 watts of subwoofer power, i have seen some lights dimming, but very minor IMO and nothing to worry about, unless you sit in the parking lot and play test tones...

i think once you get over 800 or 1000 of subwoofer power(even class D), you are going get some pretty major lights diming if you play songs with a lot of prolonged bass notes. at this stage, you can get a decent size cap to compensate a little...if you dont play a lot of super long bassy songs, you may still be okay...

once you go well over 1000 watts, and if your sub amp is 1000 plus watts of class AB power, then honestly IMO, a cap wont even help you, you are putting such a strain on the alternator that in all likelihood, a cap is just going to add to the stress, becuase once the cap cant keep up with the amp, its just going to be another load on the alternator...

at this stage, only thing that will help you is a built alternator, whcih in a car like the Z is going to be a relatively pricey custom job...

personally though, i honestly dont see the point of having anyhting close to 800-1000 or more watts of subwoofer powre in a Z...unless you are THAT much of a bass head that you want to feel the vomit coming up your chest when you play your songs i think for most people, 4-600 watts of sub power, wtih one or two 10s will be way more than enough....

upgrading to an optima or what ever, is NOT going to help that much, if any, unless your stock battery is in poor shape and is sapping the alternator, all that will really allow you to do is play longer with the car off. upgraded cables from batt to alternator, and batt to ground will help a little overall, but not enough when you are getting over 1 kilowatt

 

from personal experience - at idle and with the music/base blasting, I see the Volt meter dip from 14V to ~10 during the bass. All I have to do is raise the RPM's above 1K, and there's no sign of a voltage dip. (I rarely play music this loud...usually only happens when traffic is horrific and I need something to keep me awake)

I have Kicker's 700 watt amp (5 ch) and their L5 10" solobaric.

 

Yea im just looking at like 600w to the sub and then a small 65-75watt rms for components. With just the sub i dont dime so i think i should be good.