KICK BACK AND RELAX
To facilitate an optimal listening environment, the exhaust tunnel that runs through the center of the vehicle floor between the seats was cut out and a flat piece of 16-gauge steel sheet metal was welded in its place, thus flattening the floor so both seats could be moved in 5" and back 6" to widen the staging experience. Creating realistic staging is one of the most difficult parts of a sound-quality build. Just because all frequencies are represented doesn't mean you have a show-winning car.
Pate attacked this problem with a 1- 1/2ft3 sealed enclosure encased in the dash, which was prefabricated to make it both flat and symmetrical. The pair of 5" Focal woofers fire up at the windshield, which puts the bass in your face, so to speak. The dash was then covered in foam headliner material to dampen reflection from the dash-oriented speakers. The reformed A-pillar panels house a pair of Focal Be tweets, which were lined 90 degrees off axis from the listener. With tweets and bass in your face, the midrange section was the last to be addressed. The footrest area of the Honda was cut out to expose the unibody frame construction. After filling and fiberglassing all existing bolt holes and gaps, this allowed and extra 0.20ft3 of air space. With the extra room, the Focal Be mid was mounted very near the factory angle of the original kick panel.
WHAT LIES UNDERNEATH
To dampen resonation, close to 100 pounds of plastiscine clay was packed into the floorboard. Pate then laid foam pad over the entire floor area and finished the floor out with charcoal-colored non-backed Ozite carpeting for its high stretch and contouring ability. Monster Cable M-series cables, distribution blocks and fuse holders keep the system going, along with a pair of Optima Red Top batteries. With the exhaust line and muffler gone, two billet battery trays were bolted on a new mount in place of the old muffler. As a unique touch, an auxiliary solar panel from a deer feeder serves as the rear license plate. When the car is stowed away for long periods, this allows for trickle charging of the batteries.
In this transformation of the Civic, Pate created a "purpose-built install designed to highlight the re-creation of great musical performances." It certainly impressed us, but what about tough SQ judges? Pate brought out the Civic, now in the Expert Class, with five other SQ cars at the 2005 Unified World Finals. In the tougher class, the Civic still managed to pull a third place in the USACi rankings with another third place in Q Pro.
DRIVER PROFILE
Competitor and installer Chris Pate got his start building systems for friends when he was 16. He hasn't stopped since then, from working at Circuit City while earning an architecture degree at Texas A&M to Audio Video where he currently works his install magic. He's been a musician for as long as he's been an installer, currently singing and playing guitar for Linus, an independent rock act that has toured all over the state of Texas and beyond. His musical and architectural background combine in his systems-great sounding and unique in design. At Audio Video, Pate has built the largest team of SQ competitors in Texas and a dominant force at USACi events. Thanks go out to his wife for "putting up with the late nights, the long weekend road trips, and the long boring conversations about gnomes (ohms)," members of Team Cobra, Team CMC, Era Marketing, Team Sales, Orca Designs, JL Audio, Doug Winker, Diamond Audio, Focal, Eclipse, Monster Cable, Audison, Arc Audio and Gene Joyce.