PERFORMANCE AUTO & SOUND

King of the

Text by Paul Rachwal // Photos by Paul Rachwal & Jeff Maguire
h, the corporate demo vehicle. While most such creations are towed from show to show and showed little love and TLC, a few lucky ones are driven and appreciated in much the same way an enthusiasts project might be. The main difference between the two is that demo vehicles get enjoyed by more than a single person, as theyre often passed around the corporations employees and showed off more liberally. Such is the reason for their existence. Alpine Canadas 2005 Hummer H3 falls into that exclusive latter category. And its driven often, as it racked up over 20,000km in less than one year on the road. Its seen both of Canadas coasts, travelling to British Columbia and back, as well as the Maritimes.
This project doesnt have to go to a special enthusiast-only gathering to turn heads. Instead, it prods along with the proletariat on the same highways and byways, travelling on its own chrome wheels and big tires. Those rollers, while were on the subject, are 20- by 8.5-inch Eagle Alloys Series 178 rims wrapped in Toyo Proxes S/T rubber sized at a healthy 305/50-20. If this SUV seems familiar and you havent seen it at a show or on the road, theres another good reason. We featured part of its build-up in the previous issue of PAS, the final instalment of which can be found elsewhere in these pages. In those shots, it sported a big Alpine banner down its flanks, having just returned from a show. For our shoot, it lost those decals, opting instead for smaller, subtler ones. And apart from those few decals and the chrome rollers, there is very little done to the exterior to make this SUV stand out. Inside, however, is a different story. At the time of our shoot we were reluctant to let the system loose for fear of the dirt walls around us caving in and burying us alive. Itd be a good time though, as wed go to our graves happy, listening to some well-reproduced music. The team responsible for the creation of this beast is Alpine Canadas Product Supervisor, Rino Odorico; Product Specialist Glen Swackhamer and Alpine USAs Steve Brown, who was flown in for a week to help out. Brown has rides like Alpines famous BMW X5 (Ultimate Listening Machine), BMW 645Ci (Sinister Six), Mini Cooper, Civic Si and Acura RSX under his belt. Swackhamer chaperoned the teams creation along for our shoot. Its a simple system, says Swackhamer, who
The build team utilized Alpines renowned 12-inch SWR-1242D Type R woofers in a massive custom enclosure for truly low bass reproduction. Each of these badboys is rated to crank out 1,500W peak or 500WRMS and each is pushed by Alpines PDX-1.1000 digital amplifier, which packs a mean punch-to-size ratio.
had a hand in the approximate 900-hour build of the system, and helped design it. There are no EQs or signal processors. Our IVA-W200 head unit controls it all. While a $100,000 CDN budget sounds like plenty, it quickly dwindled away in the custom creation. Dont think for a second that simple means the sound created by the system is not impressive. On the contrary, this thing rips! Sitting in the shotgun seat, I could feel the bass, not just hear it, as it tingled my skin and scalp. Its akin to getting scared enough to have your hair stand on end, an experience I havent had in a decade or so.
A closer look at Alpines PDX-1.1000 Mono power amplifier
The goal was to make a well-rounded system, one that would sound clean and tight or, with the turn of a dial, be a bass pounder, according to Odorico. We were trying to achieve a best-ofboth-worlds type of thing with it. Odorico goes on to explain matching the sound system to the Hummers acoustics and resonances was the biggest challenge in it, but then he compared it to picking the kind of beer the guys would go for after a long days work, so it doesnt sound like they broke much of a sweat. Were especially convinced of their success after hearing their creation. The front stage is a monster, as the doors

Pasmag

Its hard to get lost with the Alpine NVE-N872A car navigation system on board.
feature a generous amount of vented space behind a complete set of Alpines SPR-17LS component speakers in each portal. The vented boxes match the sub bass frequency and cabin acoustics. The components 1-inch tweeters, two per side, are mounted in one-off fibreglass pods on each A-pillar to bring the highs nice and level with occupants heads. Whats more, theyre adjustable for customizable on-axis response. But the most intriguing thing about the front stage is the way its powered. The Alpine gurus modified the crossovers to feed power to the tweeters and woofers separately to in turn allow for independent adjustments of gain for better overall tonal accuracy. Front and center on the dash sits an iPod Mini in a one-off fibreglass dock connected to Alpines full-speed iPod connector, the KCE-422i. Evidently, the Alpine crew knows a thing or ten about making their demo vehicles sound even better than they look. Hence, the build team maximized its budget, as only a couple of Alpines renowned Type R subs were used, namely the 12-inch SWR-1242Ds in that behemoth of an enclosure for the truly low bass reproduction. Each of these bad-boys is rated to crank out 1,500W peak or 500WRMS and each is pushed by Alpines PDX-1.1000 digital amplifier, which packs a David-against-Goliath-like punch-to-size ratio. Keeping the build within the budget meant this is the ultimate enclosure / amp rack, holding some of the juiciest gear Alpine has in its corporate bins. Serious thought also went into maxi-

mizing the sound it would produce, and its venting frequency had been tuned to match the H3s cabin response. As you can see from the Tech Talk pieces highlighting the build of this system, the box is bolted to a steel frame, which in turn is bolted to the H3s floor on rubber mounts, isolating the bass energy for maximum output. That enclosure also holds Alpines NVE-N872A DVD-based navigation system front and center, right above a 10.2-inch screen taken from its PKG-1000 flip-open ceiling monitor. The monitor acts like a mirror, as it is wired to display the image from a camera moulded into the top of the enclosure, capturing the wide-mouthed expressions of onlookers. Up high, above the enclosure, sits Alpines PKG-RSE2 rear seat entertainment system complete with a 10.2-inch overhead dropdown screen, displaying more traditional DVDbased programming. Rear-seat passengers get to stare at TME-M770S 6.5-inch headrest monitors mounted directly in front of them. A set of SPR-17LP coaxials ensures the crowd hears the words as well as the thump, and is driven by the Alpine PDX-2.150 mounted on the middle shelf of the enclosure. The set of front speakers in each door is powered by a PDX-2.150 sitting farther back in the truck, on each wall of the cargo area. Just above the amps, the windows were blanked out, as they display the output of a couple of 10.2-inch screens once again cannibalized from the PKG-1000 flip-down system. The Alpine guys took the opportunity and the space created by
The camera moulded into the top of the enclosure captures the wide-mouthed expressions of onlookers
A pair of Optima Yellow Top deep cycle batteries, along with Alpine distribution hardware and fuse blocks
An iPod Mini sits conveniently in a custom dock connected to Alpines KCE-422i full-speed iPod connector
the covered-up windows on the inside to show off some of their employers interconnects hardware and wiring. This is a demo vehicle after all. Once the complicated process of building the enclosure was complete, the box and other fibreglass components were sent to Budds Collision Services Ltd. for a few coats of Midnight Blue Metallic. Under the hood, the stock 3.5L inline-five cylinder motor in the H3 is charged with hauling around all this drool-inducing gear along with bucket-loads of moulded fibreglass. The only upgrade under the hood is a couple of Optima Yellow Top deep cycle batteries, along with Alpines distribution hardware and fuse blocks. Overall, the Canadian-built Alpine H3 demo vehicle is a very functional one. We even did some light duty off-roading in this show vehicle, something not even stock, daily-driven H3s get to do. Its this ability to go anywhere and not stay locked up in a warehouse that makes this H3 so friendly and well-liked around here. // For more visit www.pasmag.com