Okay, so i'd like to say we are almost on the same page with this.
I understand your frustration with people who don't know what they are doing and assume the Big 3 or a cap is a magic hocus-pocus remedy for a demanding system.
I guess its also safe to say The Big 3 is not as effective for people who don't listen to music with very long high energy bass lines. I was actually on my way to class this afternoon listening to my system and thought to myself, a lot of these songs actually have bass notes extending throughout maybe 70% of the entire song. Heres an example of a song I really like (and sounds fantastic on my pair of ported IDQ10v3's btw) YouTube - Pendulum 'Watercolour'. (bassline starts @ about :47)
If you don't know how to do the Big 3 on your own and you have to pay someone $100+ to do it and you are NOT competing, its probably not for you. If you can do it yourself then I still think its worth it on a "1kw+" setup, no matter what kind of music you listen to.
I used to run a single 10" sub pushing ~500watts and my lights would dim in my '05 Mazda 3. Since then my amp quit working so I decided to upgrade to 2 subs and double the power. I now run an AQ2200D @ 2-ohms with no light dimming whatsoever and all I did was upgrade wiring in my car. That alone made it worth it for me. And for those people that continue to get voltage drop after The Big 3, chances are its time for a new battery, maybe a Kinetik or an Optima.
