1999 Acura Integra GS-R

Thursday, November 18. 1999

Ok, you're probably wondering how excited we can get about our third Integra GS-R sedan? After all, the car is mostly unchanged since its introduction in late '93 as a 1994 model. It seems we can always find something that makes each one noteworthy, the first one had our audio system, the second was that beautiful Cypress Green Metallic, and our new one has a leather interior. More importantly, this one will sport more performance upgrades than the past ones we've had.

As before, we took our car out to look for some nice scenery for a back drop, unfortunately we ran out of daylight. On the plus side, we got some great sunset shots to help remind us why we live in Hawaii.


1997 Acura Integra GS-R

Thursday, November 18. 1999

This is our second Integra GS-R, the first was our Frost White '94. This Cypress Green Metallic is one of our most popular colors and always generates great comments. Why did we get Green? Well the choices in '97 were Frost White (been there done that), Black Currant (no purple cars for us) and Cypress Green (the winner by default)

For the GS-R, I decided to run around the island in the other direction, the first shots were among the pineapple fields in Wahiawa... Look at all that red dirt! for those of you who don't know, Hawaiian red dirt is some of the most tenacious soil around! Once it gets on your clothes, it never comes out!

As you leave the cool highlands around Schofield Barracks, this road twists and turns on the way down to historic Haleiwa Town. This is the view you see before you start your trip to the ocean. After passing through Haleiwa, I stopped on the side of the road overlooking Waimea Bay. It was a pretty calm day for the North Shore of Oahu. The last two pictures were taken at the Waimea Falls Park. This is a beautiful park with a waterfall at the end of the valley.


1994 Acura Integra GS-R

Thursday, November 18. 1999

We bought our '94 Integra GS-R almost immediately after the sedans became available in early '94. We couldn't believe the value and technology the car represented. I thought my '88 Supercharged MR-2 had a high redline at 7800 RPM, but the GS-R had it beat at 8100 and there was no doubt that the Integra was much smoother above 5000 RPM.

One of our projects for the new car was to build an audio system that would be representative of the years I'd spent in the consumer electronics business. With that in mind I had several goals for our system:

    * High output with as little strain as possible on the stock electrical system.
    * Excellent bass response, but most important, accuracy.
    * Imaging with a good front-center-stage and realistic rear-fill.
    * Stealth, as little equipment showing as possible.

A Nakamichi TD-500 cassette deck, Nakamichi CA-101 Pre-amplifier. The digital display / infrared receiver for the Alpine CD Changer is mounted where the ashtray used to be.The subwoofer array used 8 Audiophile 6" drivers mounted inverted in a custom enclosure under the rear shelf. A black grill cloth cover concealed the woofers (left) and the swivel halogen lights replaced the stock trunk light. The acoustic bass energy was channeled directly into the passenger compartment though the original rear speaker 6 x 9 grilles (the speaker removed of course).

The job of providing rear fill was handled by a unique speaker made by Imminent Technology. This bi-polar, planar-magnetic design radiates sound equally front and rear and that is what made the setup so effective. The rear wave reflected off the rear windshield and created the rear staging I was looking for. The front wave (which in this type of speaker is very directional) shot forward towards the center of the windshield enhancing my front imaging. The output was mono (L + R) so when it reflected off the glass it combined with the left and right front speakers to give me a wide soundstage (L + C + R)

The three pictures above show the left, center and right sides of the trunk. On the left I've got the dual Soundstream SX-2 electronic crossovers. One crossover handled the subwoofer to mid/high change with the output staggered to reduce the 70hz "boom". The second crossover ran from 300 hz up for just the rear speaker. The right side housed my custom built Monolithic amplifier (made by the owner of Monolithic himself). Rated for a modest 20 watts x 4 channels, this beauty was stable into .5 ohm. By careful wiring, the 8 6" subwoofers were getting about 160 watts and the front Audiophile 5 1/4" speakers about 80 watts.

The final result exceeded my wildest dreams. All the elements came together smoothly, my installer Roy Kuroda seamlessly integrated all the extra equipment into the Integra without making the audio system stand out (see two shots of the installation in progress). Definitely the finest system Fran and I had ever indulged ourselves with.

(below) The Kimber Cable I wanted to use for speaker wire, required removal of the doors.

Some of the components in the trunk prior to installation