Okay...the main purpose of an Intake is to pull in colder air into the combustion chamber for better fuel mixing and more power.
The best way to acheive this is to put the filter and inlet outside of the engine bay where there is less residual heat. If you go with a normal bumper-fender location DO NOT remove the inner fender liner. This keeps water out of the filter and out of the engine where it will do mega harm!
As for a catback...you can still get one that is quiet. I have a model by nopi called the stealth and in normal driving it is only very slightly louder than stock...but when at full throttle and vtec...she growls!
Look around at shows and see some cars with them on and listen to the sound. Once you find what you like ask them what they got and that will give you a good ideal of what to get.
Oh and welcome to the club geokain!