At the end of the recent Consumer Electronics Show, a Pagan Gold GM Pontiac TransAm bathed in artificial white light stole my attention away from the many distractions and noises of the show. Beautifully poised on a metallic floor was what appeared to be Focal Audio's example of its finest work. I immediately noticed the sharp attention to detail: 19-inch 542-Forged 3-piece HRE wheels wrapped with Pirelli-P-Zero rubber tucked perfectly under the flawless wheel wells; the 13-inch, 4-piston caliper Brembo brake setup; chassis stability via a Hochkis upper strut bar; anti-sway bars; trailing arms; pan-hard rod, and springs; and Bilstein for high performance shocks.
The reflections of numerous flashes from photographers seemed to harmlessly bounce off the GM superbeast as I took a peek at the interior. I was met by purpose-fit 3-inch, 5-point RCI race harnesses tucked symmetrically into the upright deep bucket Sparco REV race seats. At that point I thought, oh great, another show car with seats and harnesses, this car can't be that fast. There was only one way to check, look under the hood! I walked around the front to discover this TransAm is supercharged via a huge chrome Vortech Engineering unit. The informational plaque stated that it has a fully ported and polished head, SS Racing Engine Valves, valve springs, retainers, push rods and cams all by Competition Cams; pistons by Ross; rods by Callies; clutch and flywheel by Centerforce; a huge Flowmaster dual exhaust; Rytek ExZt 2b exhaust tips; a Rytek catch can; and a K & N air filter to take care of cool incoming air. Okay, that justified the race seats and harnesses, but why was this 10-second show car sitting in an audio booth? I investigated on the spot and bumped into the mastermind of the project. Dindo Cajulis met me with a smile, a handshake, and gave me a brief overview of the car. I wanted more in-depth info on the audio setup.
Dindo opened up the doors so I could get a closer look at what was going on. Just behind each race seat, sitting on a beautifully molded Element enclosure, is a Focal Utopia 12-inch 33WX subwoofer. Powering these Focal flagships is a set of Dimension amps rated at 200w/mono (20 -70 Hz) resonant @ 50 Hz. On the midrange line-up we have a set of Audiom 6W 6.5-inch speakers powered by a 75/ch - (70 - 3500 Hz) amp by Dimension, and T51 Utopia line tweeters on demand backed by another Dimension amp. Controlling all of these components is an Eclipse 5506 CD unit.
We set up a full blown photo shoot out in Oxnard, Ventura County California. That is the home of Rytek Projektz, and is Dindo's local stomping grounds. I asked him straight out, who are you, where did you come from, and how did you get started in the audio industry? While Dindo was in school in 1985 he built his own system for personal use. He built a quadruple amplified 3-way crossover sound system when everyone else was rocking the 6 x 9s. He did this one system and people started to take notice. Before long he was doing installs on all his friends' cars out of his girlfriend's condo. His actual target market at the time was the fraternities. He built up a clientele among the college kids in San Luis Obispo and it didn't take long before everyone knew, if they wanted a stereo hooked up well, Dindo was the person to talk to. He began doing so many installs he ran out of time for himself, so once he graduated college he stopped doing installations. Dindo considers car audio a hobby and would not label himself a professional. He is an enthusiast, but he says his installs are flawless. The proof is in the end result.