bigseansul

On this forum does there seem to be any kind of consensus on which of the popular aftermarket performance cat back exhaust systems (Remus, Borla, Fabspeed, etc...) have the least amount of drone at freeway speeds of 75 mph give or take?

MagicRat

Kline doesn't drone, and I've heard Akrapovic doesn't either.

The most expensive ones. Go figure!

John D II

No drone with SpeedTech

JCtx

Even the factory PSE drones... and with the valves closed. This is mostly an issue on PDK cars, since manuals are so short-geared engine is screaming at normal highway speeds in 6th gear (only 72 mph at 3K rpm, vs 108 for PDK in 7th. PDK 6th does 74 mph). IMHO, no aftermarket exhaust sounds even close to PSE, but wanted to be fair, and point out there's some drone even with that. The consensus is PSE is worth the difference from other aftermarket systems, but if funds are short, guess it has to be one of those. Hope this helps.

okie981

My $.02 worth, my BS has PSE and Fabspeed tips. When cruising, there is a difference between "drone" and hearing the exhaust note. Drone is an annoying resonance in the cockpit of the car. I hear my exhaust at cruise speeds with PSE valves closed, and it's louder with the valves open. In either case, I don't find any objectionable "drone" to hear. Neither does my significant other and she's sensitive to these things. We drove a 5,800 mile round trip last summer in the BS to Jay Peak, VT, and never once commented to each other about hearing "drone". YMMV.

ntbrinkl

I wanna get in on a Kline.

SamboTT@ByDesign

Let me know if Ivan help anyone out. I would be glad to answer any questions and offer the best support I can to ensure you get into the right system with great pricing and support.

cheerd

Ddesimone17

+1 for Kline n Sam

John@Fabspeed

"Drone" is a very subjective term. Not only can someone's definition of drone change from person to person, it can very much change from vehicle to vehicle depending on hardtop or convertible, and whether or not the car is a manual or automatic gearbox.

My word of wisdom for those who are more sensitive to in cabin noise at cruising speed, but looking for more sound and an improved exhaust note on throttle with little to no change in the "drone" factor...upgrade the headers first. They are the biggest performance restriction on our cars, so not only will you get an lovely improvement in the sound but you'll find you get a MUCH stronger, more responsive and smoother powercurve. Take a look at my thread here on what Race Headers/Tune can accomplish on our cars.

Spokayman

Prefacing my response that I am no particular expert on the distinctions between various aftermarket exhaust systems or the acoustics properties of cars that make some more prone to drone than others...
I believe Fabspeed has a good point about headers if you are concerned with increasing performance primarily and sound secondarily.
If you are after sound improvement primarily, I personally recommend the Carnewal GT muffler system (for 987 era cars). Even in a Cayman cabin where drone is typically very noticeable there is no drone with the Carnewal, but there is no substantial performance improvement either.

From what I have observed over 6+ years of reading multiple threads in four different forums, there is a general consensus that all aftermarket systems (at least the mainstream players Borla, Fabspeed, Remus, etc.) will drone. And more to Fabspeed's point that drone is subjective people even claim that the factory Porsche Sport Exhaust will drone, but I believe that many don't understand the difference between real acoustical drone and simple noise. They're not the same. Drone has a resonance that is more akin to a vibration than simple sound waves.

itsboz

I agree with Spokayman. I have the Fabspeed TrackTec Valved Bypass system and when driving 70-75mph on the highway I think the sound is louder with the valves open, but there's less resonance with the valves closed. YMMV.

MagicRat

One man's drone is another man's powerful sportscar sound. If I go uphill in my Spyder in the gear the selector light wants me to (not a common event it must be said) then even with PSE off there is a tiny resonance at about 2,000rpm if I am listening to it and that is the best sounding exhaust I've heard. With PSE on there definitely is. Every exhaust will hit the resonant frequency of the car at some point.

Headers (or certainly Fabspeed ones in my experience) change the exhaust note only very little, but they do increase volume a bit more than that. This means that the resonance, which don't forget is *already there* will increase a little bit too. But that change did not for me hit the level I would call 'drone'. (To clarify, I have Fabspeed headers on my 911. Spyder is stock.)

JCtx

I posted this elsewhere, but drone is a combination of rpm, engine load, AND resonating area. Everybody knows about low rpm, so let's start with the second. Manual cars have very low gearing, so much less of an issue than PDK. At 2,500 rpm, a manual 981 in top gear is doing only 60. A PDK car 90. That's a heck more load on the engine. As you can see, at your typical highway cruise of 70 to 80 mph, you're outside droning range on a manual. But on a PDK (at least in 7th), you're right at the heart of it. And I also mentioned the third: Caymans are more prone to it, due to a larger resonant area right above the engine and exhaust. Bottom line is manual Boxsters have the least drone, and PDK Caymans the most. I have the latter, and it's not super obnoxious, but wish it could be lowered way more by deactivating PSE. It hardly changes even when accelerating. My brother's BGTS PDK is just perfect. You can hear the engine perfectly and just as loud, but the resonance is never bothersome, like it can be on my Cayman. So you just cannot generalize the drone on these cars; depends which of the 4 configurations you're looking at (M-C, PDK-C, M-B, PDK-B).

John@Fabspeed

Thanks for chiming in guys! All excellent and knowledgeable feedback