ECap for Car Amplifiers

Car audio power amplifiers are fully fledged power amplifiers with high, pulse-like current demand. In many vehicles they are mounted not in the engine compartment but far away from the battery – typically in the trunk or at side mounting locations. This makes the supply line long: resistances in cables, connectors, fuses and ground points lead to voltage drops at high currents.

The problem arises precisely during bass impulses: the amplifier briefly demands a great deal of energy, which, however, cannot arrive through the line without delay. The ECap for car amplifiers is therefore connected directly at the power amplifier, in parallel with the supply. It forms a local energy reservoir that compensates for voltage dips across the line and provides energy at the decisive moment.

Technical Properties

Electrical Properties

Local energy reservoir at the load

The capacitor delivers current for load peaks in the short term, before the energy can flow in over the long line. As a result, the supply voltage at the power amplifier remains more stable. Voltage drops across cables and contact points affect the amplifier less directly, because the energy reservoir bridges the gap.

Fast energy delivery during short load peaks

What matters is not only the capacitance, but also that energy is available without delay whenever the amplifier calls for it.

Sonic Character

In playback, the ECap for car amplifiers brings more drive and control: bass impulses appear firmer, and at high levels the presentation remains more stable because the amplifier suffers less from supply dips. Transients come through more cleanly, and the overall impression is more composed, because the power supply does not “give way” at the decisive moment.

Typical Applications

• Power amplifiers mounted far from the battery (e.g. trunk, side panel, under seats)
• Systems with impulse-rich low bass, where very high currents occur for short periods
• Vehicles in which the supply at the power amplifier is to be stabilized without designing the entire wiring for maximum reserves
• A complement to a fundamentally clean power supply (sufficient conductor cross-section, solid ground points, stable fuse paths)