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.
To fit Clarion VRX630 and...
To fit Clarion VRX630 and VS735 source units in the existing double-DIN opening, Pat Holdaway made a custom bezel and painted it to match the silver trim of the dash.
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.