For those with drone...

[RainJer]

I recently installed Magnaflow mufflers (no x-pipe) to my car and although I absolutely love the subtle increase in sound and deeper tone, there is a slight drone right around 2,200 RPMs. I came across this thread in the B8 A4 forum and thought I would pass it along.

In short, to reduce the drone I picked up builder-grade insulation from Home Depot (as an alternative to dynomat), lined my spare tire wheel well and sealed the deck underneath the rear dash. Specifically, I covered the passenger side port and covered the remainder deck, only leaving the sub exposed. This 15 minute, $30 project reduced the drone (didn't entirely eliminate) and increased the clarity of the bass/sub!

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...e-Loudness-Fix

Let me know if you have had success in eliminating drone by other means.

[drob23]

I tried this in my spare wheel well...didn't seem to do much. But glad to hear it worked for you. I ended up just tearing it out because it was strange explaining to people what it was when it came up lol

To be clear, I used the stuff referenced in the thread. I bet dynamat might work a lot better. I need to put some dynamat on my doors when I get around to it...still kind of rattle city even after dealership performed a TSB on door rattles.

[bpang1]

Drone and other road noise is actually pretty hard to eliminate because it is very different from killing rattles or vibrations. Most people think that dynamat can eliminate road noise but they are mistaken. It does help with tamping down some of the transmission of the road noise into the car because you add weight to the sheet metal (you also close up some holes that air/sound is moving through) and transmitting sound from one thing to another is harder when the next thing is denser. However, what you are really looking for is a sound barrier material.

Here's one that I have had success with: http://store.secondskinaudio.com/luxury-liner-pro/

What you basically do is first apply sound deadening materials like Dynamat to the bare sheet metal because (as I wrote earlier) they add weight to the metal which makes sound transmission harder. Then you put this sound barrier on top of it.

This is all from my amateur amount of knowledge, surely some of the audiophiles here can chime in to give the better description of how this all works.

[Hatchman]

I've had a Magnadrone... I mean Magnaflow exhaust in three other vehicles, all had V8s and automatics which made it very hard to drive around the 2,100-2,500 rpm drone, which was interstate cruising speed/rpm.

I also did the Home Depot/Lowes Dynomat imitation insulation and it did do a good job of reducing it, but didn't get rid of it all together...until I changed the exhaust.

Two of the cars came with the drone, bought used, but the last, a 2005 Mustang GT, I thought I would give Magnoflow one more shot...

No more Magnadrone for me, ever.

[eurotic]

Is there actually an exhaust for our cars that sounds good and has no more drone than the stock exhaust. In every thread about exhausts it seems someone will say no drone but then someone else says there is at least a little. I know it is subjective to a point as different people maybe be more sensitive to certain harmonics but it's so difficult when you live somewhere where there are very few S4's let alone ones that have different aftermarket exhausts. And from video you can't tell if a car has drone or not.

[Konrad]

Is there actually an exhaust for our cars that sounds good and has no more drone than the stock exhaust. In every thread about exhausts it seems someone will say no drone but then someone else says there is at least a little. I know it is subjective to a point as different people maybe be more sensitive to certain harmonics but it's so difficult when you live somewhere where there are very few S4's let alone ones that have different aftermarket exhausts. And from video you can't tell if a car has drone or not.

Anything is possible with the right amount of $$$

[Josh/AWE]

Is there actually an exhaust for our cars that sounds good and has no more drone than the stock exhaust. In every thread about exhausts it seems someone will say no drone but then someone else says there is at least a little. I know it is subjective to a point as different people maybe be more sensitive to certain harmonics but it's so difficult when you live somewhere where there are very few S4's let alone ones that have different aftermarket exhausts. And from video you can't tell if a car has drone or not.

Have you heard our Touring Edition exhaust? It's easy to make a free flowing exhaust system, but it takes a lot of work to encourage power while controlling the tone. Our 180 Technology™ equipped resonators are designed to eliminate drone while achieving maximum power gains and an overall sophisticated sound. It's a science to eliminate drone without neutering the pleasing spectrum of an exhaust roar. How do we do it?

We document the sound and exhaust temperature of the vehicle.
We do a detailed spectrum analysis to identify undesirable frequencies.
We run that data through our proprietary differential calculus equations to determine the volume and shapes of our 180 Technology resonator internals.
By this point we have laser scanned the underneath of the vehicle so we can CAD model the resonator package to fit on the vehicle.
We optimize the routing for our .065" thick 304 stainless steel exhaust, maximize the power output while ensuring the sound quality remains intact, dial in the tip aesthetics, and hone in on crafting an exotic and exciting tone at full throttle.
After plenty of dyno and street testing, we are confident to release a system we can stand behind.

[blackfunk]

Or like most, you just get used to it.

[jlaudio]

Is there actually an exhaust for our cars that sounds good and has no more drone than the stock exhaust. In every thread about exhausts it seems someone will say no drone but then someone else says there is at least a little. I know it is subjective to a point as different people maybe be more sensitive to certain harmonics but it's so difficult when you live somewhere where there are very few S4's let alone ones that have different aftermarket exhausts. And from video you can't tell if a car has drone or not.

all aftermarket exhausts (even AWE's Touring edition) will have drone around 2200-2500 rpm. don't let anyone tell you otherwise. there aren't enough resonators in the world to make aftermarket exhausts not drone.
exhausts on our cars are for audible pleasure only, the factory exhausts flows more than enough for even stage 2. if you don't want any drone what so ever - stay oem. seriously.

[Hatchman]

Is there actually an exhaust for our cars that sounds good and has no more drone than the stock exhaust. In every thread about exhausts it seems someone will say no drone but then someone else says there is at least a little. I know it is subjective to a point as different people maybe be more sensitive to certain harmonics but it's so difficult when you live somewhere where there are very few S4's let alone ones that have different aftermarket exhausts. And from video you can't tell if a car has drone or not.

I have a Borla on my S5, and it has no drone. It actually sounds quieter at highway cruise than the stock exhaust, but still gets loud when you hit wide open throttle (WOT). I would definitely label it as a "touring" exhaust though Borla does not label it as such. Really surprised me that it was quitter at highway speed, and no drone at all. Keep an eye on Amazon, I got mine for about $800, though it's $2000 right now.

I've never heard anyone say the Borla drones on a S4 or S5 4.2L V8, though like you said, exhaust tone is very subjective. If anything it is not loud enough at WOT.

[Josh/AWE]

all aftermarket exhausts (even AWE's Touring edition) will have drone around 2200-2500 rpm. don't let anyone tell you otherwise. there aren't enough resonators in the world to make aftermarket exhausts not drone.
exhausts on our cars are for audible pleasure only, the factory exhausts flows more than enough for even stage 2. if you don't want any drone what so ever - stay oem. seriously.

Some vehicle and engine combinations are more prone to droning; the conditions are right at certain RPM's to create it. It is true that the 2k RPM range is known for being a problematic area, we recognize that and did our best to eliminate it. Our Resonated downpipes have larger resonators than stock in a straight through design to further encourage drone elimination.

While not an astonishing amount, there is power to be had in the upper RPM range by upgrading the exhaust and that is compounded with a tune.

[LifeIsStout]

Reading through other threads, have you pulled the fuse for the Soundakator yet? Judging from the feedback out there it may make a difference.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...=1#post8293723

[the4siswickid]

My daily driver is a 2011 S4. I'm very sensitive to drone and I designed our exhaust for this application so I'd have to agree that it doesn't drone. I'm really proud of this exhaust system and I live with it everyday. If you have drone issues something isn't right and you need to contact me. My email address is [email protected]

Thanks

I have this exhaust and love it. Zero drone. Just waiting the carbon fiber tips.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[yungcotter]

The thing that helped most with my exhaust drone was sealing off all the holes the parcel shelf on the B7 not sure about B8 there are a lot of holes. I know it works because i used home depot peel & seal and when a large pice fell off i noticed it was louder. I replaced it with dynamat its been great since.