Sound Systems Hurt HP ?????

[n0va91TSI]

Will running a 200 watt amp hurt engine perfomance? Is there a way to wire things up so it wont? Has anyone done a dyno with the stereo up? I always turn mine off when i want to go fast but someone told me it doesnt make a differance. Im curious if maybe it hurts the spark or something.

Anyone know?

 

[Maglin]

A stereo does 2 things to your vehicle as far as performance goes.

The first and most obvesous is the extra added weight. On average a properly installed system pushing around 800-1000 watts is running 2 12's or 15's and the enclosure for them. All that equipment and box weights usually around 100-200 pounds. Depending on how elaberate you go for you install.

Then you have the parisitic loss from the power the stereo running. It's pulling say 50 amps with some heavy bass. The alternator is really draging the engine down as it's HP demands increase due to the increased output of it.

So that is what happens. If someone has a car with a good system due 2 dyno runs with it. One with it on and other off. I'm not sure on these numbers but I would think the difference would be about 12-15 HP max. So if you want a system go ahead on put one in. it's your car and the added weight and HP loss isn't enough in my book to not have good tunes.

 

[SpoolnTsi]

Weight wise, as a rule of thumb they say a 100lbs is worth a tenth of a second