I’m running a '07 DB9 Volante with Fuse 22 pulled, but truth be told the exhaust note is still a bit weak low down. When you put your foot in it there’s that wonderful bellowing WWII Spitfire sound, but tooling around under light load it sounds far too much like a 350/370Z. I tend to drive on the flappy paddles around town, playing tunes with the sound like the immature 17 year old that I still am at 45, but putting enough power down to get throaty has you slamming on the brakes 0.2 seconds later so as not to hit the ubiquitous Camry or Prius that just pulled out in front of you without looking. So I’m stuck sounding like a Z, the most common car in So Cal after the Camry and the Prius…

The problem really started last week when I drove a Maserati GranTurismo Convertible - the noise that thing makes is unreal. Even accelerating very gently up to 3-4000rpm on the flappy paddles produces a spine-tingling wail, with pops on the upshift as well as the down. The lineage of that engine is pretty obvious when you hear it.

So I’m thinking of shelling out for a Sports or Supersports, but my local dealer tells me the Sports is barely any different to running stock with fuse 22 pulled while the SuperSports would be way too loud with the roof down – which is the reason they have one in stock after a customer took it off to go back to stock.

They did kindly offer to let me try it with no obligation to buy it, but it’ll still cost me $500 labour to find out, plus another $500 to take it off again if my ears bleed.

I know the sound of an exhaust is subjective, but does anyone have experience with shouty exhausts on a Volante?

I guess I want to have my cake and eat it, plus still have some left over for later – I want something that has a nice throb at idle and under light load, some sparkly crackles and pops on the over-run, and not be deafening on the freeway with the top down.

Thoughts?


Thanks in advance.

 

You do have a couple of options. First off, do you have 200 cell sport cats? If you have the factory cats, you would probably want to get the Supersport. Put fuse 22 back in. You will have the overall sound that you are looking for: better than a fuse 22 pull, but less than an F14A fighter....

If you have sport cats, or plan on getting them, I would stick with the Sport version, as it gets a little loud with both. The neighbors, and the cops, will start using terms like "decibel level ordinance" and "flight path", and your kids will think that you have lost your mind. On the other hand, it will make up for the lack of noise on a Prius!

Good luck either way.

 

Bone stock thus far.

I live in Orange County (the California one). It's like living inside "The Fast And The Furious" here, and the place is full of Honda Civics with 5" diameter exhausts driven by people who are too short to see out of the windscreen. The police here don't seem to care about the noise. (actually I have another story about that for later...)

I had a Stage II on my Elise and I swear there were flames coming out the back of it.

Which was fine, apart from the fact that i had to drive at 45 mph or less to have a conversation with the passenger.

 

The best value for money mod i've ever made was simply removing the central muffler on my previous (2006) Range Rover Sport Supercharged - $50 and the most amazing ******** vibrating experience. And no droning, just ..."throbbing".

Tried the same with the 2010 (5.0 SC and 510BHP instead of the 4.0 SC and 390bhp) with less success. Similar pleasant vibrations into the gentleman's region but altogether too many pops and bangs on the over-run - people were ducking for cover thinking it was a drive-by shooting. Maybe needs more back-pressure. Whatever that is.

Had to insert a medium sized Flowmaster, for a full $200.

These Astons are 'spensive.

 

Hi Rob,

I may have a solution for you. We have two sound levels that fall between QS Sports and Supersports so we should be able to hit the nail right on the head.

Drop me an email - Stuart@RSCTuning.com if you want to discuss further.

Cheers,

Stuart

 

I have the Supersports on my 09 4.7 Vantage Roadster with the stock cats etc. The sound is great without being too loud. Very pleased overall. I also agree with the above post that I would not use it with the aftermarket cats. Ken

 

This may be a very stupid question, but do 200 cell cats bring the overall sound forward in the car? I would assume they would.

Just trying to jive that with having the top down, which I do 99% of the time.

Second question – and forgive me the question, please – if pops and bangs are desired will I get any with just an exhaust, or do I need cats?

 

Pops and bangs you get with exhaust or cats.

If you only want better noise I think an exhaust is the right choice, if you want more power and more noise get the cats.

My personal experience is that the rear muffler will make a more refined noise. The cats is a more aggressive sound but still nice.

Something you have to consider is that you will be able to smell the exhaust more with high flow cats at WOT. ( I use high octane fuels and I love the smell )

With either choice you make You have nothing to loose.

 

OC Brit, you can go to youtube and check out the sound levels of various exhaust systems. I have QS Sports on the Aston which sounds good, not terribly loud but Super Sports exhaust works better on the Lambo since it is very loud. RSC exhaust is also excellent!

 

I can’t speak to the many exhaust options, but I am very pleased with the cats. Much throatier rumble at idle, crisper and more raw sounding at all revs – the “crackles” have been liberated.

No drone at all at motorway speeds, although there is definitely more of a presence than before. Very deep rumble at cruising load, but smugly satisfying rather than intrusive, and with 3x the volume available at the gentle press of what is truly now the loud pedal.

A few pops and bangs on the over-run, although a few more wouldn’t go amiss. The characteristic “Whuump” (very apparent in the Top Gear clip on Youtube) going from 3rd to 2nd, or 2nd to 1st, is much more commanding.

The best thing of course is that first start-up of the day – it feels like a huge amount of air is sucked in at the front, compressed for a second or two, and then blasted out the back – the Spitfire has become a Lancaster Bomber. (You Vantage drivers are too young to know what I mean, but us crinkly DB9 guys know…)

It doesn’t sound like a Nissan Z370 any more…WOT around 4000-5000 rpm is like something out of the Old Testament. It’s biblical. Tunnels? Hilarious! Rattles your teeth.

And of course full praise to Stuart at RSC. A joy to work with, and objective, as it seems is the trend.

Link to a vid here. It absolutely doesn’t do it justice any more than any other sound clip I’ve ever heard, but you get the idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zNySKqMKdk

 

Pleasure was all mine Rob, and I'm glad we figured out the right setup for you. Thanks for the video too!

 

Stuart,

Did RSC used to sell Quicksilver exhausts? I notice that the website offers Veloce Exhausts which look quite a bit different than the Quicksilver models.

Even more confusing, both types offer three sound levels:

RSC:
- Touring Sound
- Veloce Sport Sound
- Veloce Super Sport Sound

Quicksilver:
- Sports
- Super Sports
- Super Sports Plus

But I'm confused because I hear people referring to the RSC loudest exhaust as the "Plus". Are they the same? If not, are the sound qualities the same across the two product lines? Judging by the names, it would appear that the "Super Sports" is the middle sound level for the QS exhaust, but the loudest sound level for the RSC one. Could you please help clarify this?

 

stuart helped me figure out mine as well, the touring with the cats and for the quite sound, damn is it perfectly loud. glad you found what you were looking for and stuart is great to work with.

 

Hi Karl,

RSC was had a brief association with Quicksilver as a North American distributor, which lasted maybe 6 months. Unfortunately the quality of some of the product was not good enough to meet our standards, and there was a great deal of misrepresentation going on as well, in addition to the failure to deliver product 6 months after ordering. This relationship was terminated by RSC when we chose to invest in developing and manufacturing our own line of exhaust systems, under the brand 'Velocesport'.

Yes, our systems do look a lot different, we were able to make a number of improvements to the construction which offers lighter weight, improved performance and better looking systems.

As far as the sound levels go, this is the order they would fall in terms of volume (although there is probably a difference in terms of sound quality)
QS SS+
QS SS
RSC SS
RSC Sports
RSC Touring
QS Sports

The ones highlighted in bold are in the correct order, but fall very close to each other. Our sound levels were 'fine tuned' if you like, based on the initial feedback on the Quicksilver sounds. For example, QS SS was reported by many to be just a little bit too loud so our SS system is backed off just a touch.

Our Touring sound level is specifically tuned to match up with our performance catalysts and give the overal sound level that is perfect for most drivers.

There is definitely still some confusion as to the manufacture of our exhausts, despite my best efforts there seems to be deliberate attempt to muddy the waters. Many people have been told that QS makes our exhausts, or that ours are simply copies of theirs, neither of which are true.

 

I agree the RSC Veloce are definitely better looking. I saw a video that claimed was a touring exhaust plus 200 cell cats and it sounded pretty loud (and good). I thought most people went with the Sports and cats. Is there much of a difference between the two exhaust sounds once the cats are added to the equation?

Like I said to you on the phone the other day, I'm looking for a bit more sound lower in the rev range, but I don't want my car to sound like a V8 muscle car. IMHO Crackles and pops don't suit the character of this vehicle. I also don't really care if the cats offer a bit more performance—the car already has more than I can realistically use. If I want a more refined sound, would I be a better candidate for a RSC Super Sport with the stock cats?

BTW. Still no word on the credit refund to my account?