i have two 1000 watt amps and ill barley turn up the volume and every beat makes the lights dim. i have a red top optima battery and a 2 farad cap a stock alternator and all the ground cables go to one ground. is there anything i can do to help out the surge??

 

For the "big three". I'd start there.

 

Good advice. If you do the big 3 and you still have issues, it might be time to look at getting a bigger alternator.

Does your car have air conditioning? If not, it's got a tiny alternator already. If it does have a/c, you should have around a 100 amp alternator, but considering the age of your car, there's no telling if the right alternator is still there.

 

you should put quotation marks around your "1000 watt" amplifiers...

maybe even... 'amplifiers'?

you can slap me when you post your eclipse/jl audio/memphis/(old)phoenix gold model number

also the capacitor is like a band-aid for the real problem... I bet your amp power wire is too small, or pinched/damaged

what size power/ground wire are you using?