A longtime audiophile, David Hsu competed on the IASCA circuit years before the automotive performance bug bit. When his passion turned to the automotive world, he opened Skunkworks, which eventually evolved into his current company, Skunk2 Racing, renowned for leading edge technology in import performance parts. Director of sales and marketing for Skunk2, Frank Balogh also shares dual passions for racing and music. In years past, Balogh worked with BMW's race team and F1 before a five-year absence from the automotive world landed him a role as a music producer and director for some of the most influential artists of the era. His portfolio includes names like Bob Dylan, Herbie Hancock, Bob Marley and the Doors. When these two enthusiasts started the latest company's project, the Skunk2 Honda Civic RR, performance modifications alone would not have been enough to satisfy them.
A brief encounter between Balogh, Hsu and the editors of CA&E soon developed into a challenge-one to build an audiophile system that would weigh in at less than 50 pounds total. This included everything from wire, connectors, battery terminals, amplifiers, etc. Since the car still retained its factory system, which could be deducted from the total, we took on the challenge.
After a little research, we wound up on the phone with engineers at Phoenix Gold. Their Titanium series amplifiers appeared to be exactly what we needed. PG's patented heatsink technology used on this series is highly effective, but more key to our project, it also really cuts down on the weight of the amplifier. We also found out that PG makes two variations of the same amplifiers: the mainstream product that uses a steel chassis and a Japanese product that uses an aluminum chassis for corrosive reasons (for those unaware, Japan is surrounded by salt water). Given the option, we opted for the Japanese model. But that isn't all we found at PG. Their top-of-the-line component sets use a shallow, lightweight woofer that suited our cause. Certainly, we didn't overlook the fact that the overall performance of the product would agree with the audiophile in our clients.
For the subwoofer, we went with a less orthodox solution, Orbis Audio. You may remember that we tested the 13-pound, 10" CF-10 in October 2004 and were quite surprised with the results. Needless to say, its carbon-fiber enclosure is also intriguing and fits the look of the sport compact car world.
With the gear selected, we turned to Pat Holdaway of Speaker Works in Orange, CA, to install the straightforward and simple system. Keeping with the old-school ways of IASCA, the system is dominated by front-stage presence. The Titanium 5 Comp Elite component set lodges in the doors. Its slightly cumbersome crossover was mounted underneath the passenger seat using steel brackets fabricated by Holdaway. Since Hsu and Balogh opted to have video along with audio for display purposes (and, perhaps make the challenge more interesting), a Clarion VRX630 AM/FM receiver with 6.5-inch monitor was mounted just above the VS735 DVD/CD player, both located up front in the factory dash location.
In the rear, the subwoofer and amp sit closely together. The CF-10 is mounted in the spare tire well. Making sure that the subwoofer had an even surface to be mounted to, Holdaway cut a 1/4" aircraft-grade aluminum plate and mounted it to the bottom of the well. Holdaway also put the amprack right at the top of the tire well. With the short distance, not much wire was needed between the two, though much more Tsunami speaker and power wire was used throughout, including RCA cables and 16-gauge speaker wire to components.
In the end, all the components of the A/V system (minus the weight of the original head unit and factory speakers) came out to 45.1 pounds. With almost five pounds to spare, maybe Hsu and Balogh would like to spring for an extra LCD screen. As for now, they can enjoy high-quality sound without being weighed down.
TechSkunk2 Megapower Exhaust systemK-Pro ECU programSkunk2 camsSkunk2 valvesSkunk2 valve springsSkunk2 titanium headerVolk racing wheels 18" x 7.5"Michellin Pilot tires (track)BFGoodrich KD tires (street)Injen IntakeRSX cylinder headC&R racing radiatorHasport mountsBrembo brakesBraille Auto Development lightweight battery (7 1/2 pounds)