AcuraTLParts.com Blog

If you haven’t heard of CDT Audio before, you either haven’t been around the audio scene long enough, or the rock your living under must be really heavy. (really, really heavy!)

But seriously, when I first got a taste for the TL’s factory audio system, it was at the dealer when my salesman popped in the Demo DVD-Audio-CD (is it redundant to call it CD?). It was good, but not great. It didn’t take my breath away and although smooth, it just lacked the “kick” that you would expect from a luxury Acura, especially with a DVD medium delivering the music. I thought it was adequate enough for a stock system, but felt the need to flirt with an upgrade.

CDT Audio has been around for quiet a long time, and is especially well known in the audiophile arena. It’s not a mass-marketed product like Alpine, or Rocksford Fosgate, and is much more tuned towards SQ preferred listeners. SQ, standing for sound quality, rather than SPL which focuses on ear bleeding bass. Of course not only will this improve over the factory SQ, but it will also emphasize much on the SPL-less factory system that Elliot Scheiner has integrated into the TL. Although the system is a work of art by the renown producer, it still has it’s flaws and apparent let downs. Most notable is it’s lack of rich and clean lows, as well as crisp highs.

It only seems to live up to it’s hype when listening to DVD-Audio’s. And the ELS Demo CD. Go figure.

The sound engineering team at CDT Audio pinpointed this to the design flaw of the TL rear shelf structure, as have several members on the forum. The lack of a rigid shelf, and separated enclosures for each of the woofers in the rear deck results in a lack of pure and accurate bass. And once gains are turned up through the headunit, this is a weak point that is also amplified.

With a shallow woofer, and enclosure design, CDT has helped us design an “upgrade” that will compliment the remainder of the ELS stereo system, without going into a complete audio-overhaul project. We’re trying to accomplish the most, while modifying or adding the least possible. This means factory wiring, no amplifiers, low output converters, and all of that shenanigans.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the first prototype.

After all the exhausts sold, it’s funny that I still don’t have a professional close up of the new logo for ATLP. Everytime I go down to the manufacturer, their either all boxed up already, or we’re so behind schedule that I can’t waste anytime between opening boxes to getting them directly over to FedEx. What am I to tell all those people that are asking how the laser etching of the logo looks like?

Thanks to Brian, who did post some good pics of the etching, so this will have to do until we have some spare exhausts laying around.

And also a courtesy from Ngan who’s come a long way!

Now that the new site is up, I’m quiet excited as I’ll be able to post more consistent updates on here and keep the “mods” on a few forums happier.

Lots of new things happening here at ATLP. We’ve expanded from just having a single exhaust, to a J-Pipe, High-Flow Cats, and systems available for more platforms! I also found an old picture of a component of the J-Pipe I figured it would be worth sharing. It’s overlooked by a lot of people and I figured it needs a moment of fame.

We’ll call this guy the smooth criminal. Seriously, it’s a work of art in itself. No jagged, protruding metal edges from the pipes coming together. It’s a one-piece design that is as smooth as a baby’s butt!

Anyway, on with more current happenings. The site has all new fancy gadgets, but we kept the easy to navigate layout and feel of the original site. Few new things you should note, and use - reviews for each product! Those are important, not only for us so we can know if we screwed things up (hopefully not), but also for the person looking for previous owner impressions.

The checkout is also far improved. Now you are able to add everything into your shopping cart, and checkout all at once. I know, I know, it was a painstaking process before if you wanted to order 10 exhausts systems at once. (who does that?)

Lastly and most obviously the blog. Keep the comments coming. At least I know if anyone even reads these before bedtime besides myself.