An car amplifier is vital to have in any car audio system if you are serious about sound. The car amplifier has an role and responsibility to provide an high output signal to an speaker or subwoofer. If you have an big rms bass car amp, when you turn the volume on the headunit to the highest volume, does the bass cut out? Does turning the gain down on the amplifier to an reduced level solve the problem?
If so, then the car electrical system can't keep up with the big demands from your car amp. The stock electrical system is designed for the cars electrical stuff. Things such as heaters, headlights, wipers dash lights etc, adding an car amp just places additional load onto the stock battery and alternator. Every vehicle is different, some cars, such as diesels are ok with an extra load such as adding an car amp as they have an bigger battery. Petrol cars have smaller batteries and alternators, which can cause issues with get the correct voltage to your car amplifier. It is recommend that you purchase an volt meter of some kind so you can measure the voltage going to your car amp. Its always good to check this from the car amplifier side of things.
Now there are many ways to improve the charge of your electrical system on your car. The basic is upgrading the car battery to an better one that contains deep cycle technology, agm batteries that are stop and start compatible are also an good alternative if your on a budget car audio system. Yellow top optima batteries are something you should consider if you don't have problems. They have special technology that allows them to store more charge on demand, this allows your car amp to get bursts of power in short periods of time.
The alternator is what charges the battery, upgrading it can help massively. The higher the amps the more it can deliver additional to the car amplifier. For example if your stock car alternator is 80 amps and your car amp draws 100 amps of current, then you need an 200 amp alternator. The stock alternator has enough amps just to run the cars engine and not designed for more load. If you don't upgrade your alternator, eventually it will damaged to an point were your vehicle won't randomly start.
The big 3 is an upgrade of using bigger wires across the electrical system in the engine bay. Three main cables, ground to negative battery, ground to engine and alternator to battery positive are usually upgraded with either 4 or 0 gauge wire. This allows more current to travel easily across the cars electrical system provide more flow of electricity.
Power capacitors are also an good recommendation to fix voltage drop on car audio systems, but only really works if you have good electrical system in the first place. An power cap does work if its from an decent car audio brand and is charged before operation. It will help prevent dimming headlights on your car and it comes with an handy voltage meter. However, adding an power cap alone won't solve the problem completely and often though to be an cheap way to fix an poor car audio system.
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