I'm pretty new to upgrading car audio systems. I have a '97 Civic DX that has no power accessories. I want to put in my old Pioneer tape deck and 12 disc CD changer. I also want to add an old MTX amp I have (250 watt) and a sub. My question is can this car handle all this stuff without having a beefier alternator installed? As you can see, I don't want to spend a lot of money, hence the reason for using all the old stuff I already have. I had this stuff in a '92 Lexus ES300 and everytime I would come to a stop light, the bass would cut off because it wasn't getting enough juice. That car had a lot of power accessories, but also a V6 and I would imagine, a larger alternator. Any thoughts?

 

you should have no problem..250 watts is not that much and with a sub, there are people who are running way bigger system then that and have no problems

 

Thanks, I hope not. I would hate to have the same problem as I did last time. I have seen other peoples systems on the posts, but some of them used capacitors or modified/replaced alternators to get enough power and that kind of worried me a little.

 

I assume I am one of the folks you are speaking about with modified alternator.. I only modified my alternator, because I did not like my headlights, and interior lights dimming when the bass hit hard. with a 60A alternator I never had the amp "clip out" (shut down losing the bass totally)
You should be fine with a 250 watt amp in there..
I am running a 1500W amp (RMS) and also a 300W RMS amp and only had dimming problems.
Good luck.

HD

 

Yes, you were one of the people I saw that did the alternator mod. Thanks for the info. From what I am hearing, I shouldn't even have dimming problems which would be great.

 

Yeah with a 250 watt amp.. you should be fine.
HD