I have 2 15" subs running 1200 watts.. When the empeg isnt on they run fine but when i turn the empeg on the empeg shows the battery icon and shuts off. Would anyone recommend a new battery or like a 1.5 farad capacitor?

The problem is not your empeg. (By the time you finish reading this, you're going to wish it were the empeg!)

If you are running 1200 watts (just for your subs!) then you are pulling more power than your charging system (battery-regulator-alternator) can provide. A capacitor will do absolutely nothing for you in this situation. A new battery might help for a while (an hour or so) but that's not the answer.

When the battery icon comes on in the empeg, that means that the system voltage in your car is low -- somewhere around 11 volts if I recall correctly. There are two ways to fix this: generate more power, or use less power. Nothing else works.

My personal recommendation is to use less power -- get rid of that 1200 watt amp feeding the subs and replace it with a nice little Class-D 175 watt amp. It'll sound better, but of course it won't make 1200 watts worth of noise, which I am pretty sure is your primary goal here, so forget that option I guess.

To make more power, you need a bigger alternator. You'll be looking at $175--$450 for that, depending on just how big, how good, and how powerful an alternator you want. You're going to want something that will put out at least 200 amps to power the monster stereo system you are running.

It would be nice if you could just replace the battery or add a capacitor... but you're not going to get off that easy.

tanstaafl.