There were 10 threads in the past 2 months on the integra forum debating whether Intakes (shortram/CAI) were a waste of money and whether you should save up for a custom junkyard turbo/nawwsss/blah blah blah.

I would have to agree with everyone so far who has emphasized the importance of the CAI as part of a larger system (i.e. I/H/C/E)
15-20 whp gains on I/H/C/E gsr's are not uncommon. I'm not sure whether the AV6 would benefit as much from cooler breathing (versus a tiny high-compression 4-banger) but I find it surprising that you didn't notice a difference on the butt-dyno.

Also, if you're comparing the icebox to other CAI setups, the icebox makes just as much power, if not more. While I wouldn't trust manufacturer's dynoplots, there are more than enough independent tests out there to back these claims.

Shingo