Well I actually just deleted it because I got these installed the proper way today and it sounds way better. I am about to re upload another video.

 

That's great info, thanks. It sounds like swapping the y-pipe would be mostly an auditory decision. Have you heard other exhaust systems on the car? Do you have subjective comparisons for volume? Their website seems to indicate it should be loud enough to be more satisfying, but still on the quieter end of replacement exhaust systems. Still no drone?

 

Yep, Tanabe has a great sound, similar to TopSpeed, an the build quality is better. I heard the GThaus Meistercshaft on a g coupe, way too loud for my taste. I heard ARK in person, sounds good, but a bit trumpety? if that makes sense. Stillen has a nice sound as well, a bit deeper than oem and louder than the top speed, but only just. For my personal taste, TopSpeed is just enough. Its probably the quietest option for an aftermarket exhaust for our cars, but its still much louder than stock. It drones a tiny bit around 2500 rpm, but its nothing major.

 

The Invidia is much quieter than the Top Speed. I ditched the Top Speed in favor of the Tanabe's as the Top Speed was just too loud for daily driving IMO.

 

Tanabe what? If you are talking about the axle back, it is basically same sound as stock.

 

Im surprised to hear that. My experience with the TopSpeed seems to be very quiet. Havent heard invidia in person, could be wrong about TS being the quietest, just comes off that way when compared to everyone I know with Stillen/ARC/Motordyne/etc.

Tanabe axelback, yes. I heard it on a car that had some other piping as well, so I cant say 100 per cent how different it is just by itself, but side by side with my car, they were pretty damn close tone and volume wise.

 

Invidia is about as quiet as a tanabe axleback. The TopSpeed is definitely louder than the Invidia.

 

Hmm, interesting. I want to hear the invidia in person now to compare. Im told my exhaust sounds louder than my good friends who has the exact same thing as me sans K&N intakes. (which shouldnt really make that much of a difference, should it?)

 

The Tanabe is stock'ish sounding at idle, but it definitely opens up when you get on it. I'm currently running them paired with OBX resonated test pipes and I love it.

 

All these differing statements just goes to show you that everyone has a different opinion about what they think is loud. Now I've had 5 different exhaust set-ups on my G in my 9 years of ownership including both the Invidia and Tanabe exhausts. IMO the Invidia was WAY too loud, especially on the freeway with lots of drone around 3K RPM's. I keep going back to the Tanabe as it seems to offer the perfect blend of quiet idle and just enough noise at higher RPM's, especially when paired with a set of HFC's or RTP's (as jfisher mentioned) and the Tanabe Y-Pipe (which I am also running right now).


Incidentally, the Invidia paired with Berk HFC's was by far the loudest set-up I've had on the car so far. And my Invidia exhaust even had the resonated pipes that were optional at the time.

 

I'm also currently working with Fast Intensions on a custom exhaust set-up with 18" resonators and round coupe mufflers in carbon fiber. But so far they are having issues with doing the quad tips on the round CF mufflers, so I may need to scratch the idea.

 

Do you have a coupe or sedan? The Invidia Gemini for the coupe is WAY different than the Invidia Q300 for the sedan. That may be why opinions differ so dramatically. The q300 is a very quiet setup, just a bit deeper and more noticeable than stock, that is what I am running now, with stock cats.

 

I wonder if there might be some apples-to-oranges comparisons here. I've seen a ton of references to the Tanabe axle back being barely louder than stock. On the Tanabe website they say it's 93db, though it's not entirely clear if that means maximum or where they're measuring from or anything. Topspeed's website says the axleback for the sedan is 97db. Both have other products, though, but I don't think they are for the sedan. (though Tanabe sells a y-pipe and a midpipe separately)

I've seen videos of the Q300, and while it's nearly impossible to tell absolute volume from that, it's fairly clear it isn't very loud. Likewise I can pretty well tell a couple things are fundamentally louder than I would want.

My favorite tone from watching on youtube is actually the HKS hi-power, though I suspect it's really loud and those enormous yawning tips aren't at all the look I'm going for. Also expensive. I like that growl though, over the "trumpety" sound hexotic mentioned above. Stillen seems nice but I worry about some rumblings of rust problems, and frankly, if I'm going to spend that much I'll probably just go for the FI setup. It's tough to buy these kinds of things sight unseen.

I do know that my rhfc's will alter a little the sound from something I hear with stock cats. Mostly just a little louder, I think. Still kind of leaning toward the Topspeed axleback.

 

Remember that a rise in 3dbs is actually twice the volume level

 

Well, not exactly. At the risk of thread-jacking, it depends on whether you're talking about the root-power ratio or field-power (amplitude) ratio. In the case of the power ratio, increasing power by a factor of 10 increases the sound level by 10db. When talking about amplitude, the same increase raises the sound level by 20db. In audio systems it's a generally accepted math shortcut that doubling the amplifier power raises the output level by 3db, all else being equal. That's the root power ratio measurement. Exhaust is an acoustical system, not an electrical one, so we're talking about the amplitude ratio, which is what we measure with an spl meter. So 6db here is the standard for double.

It's frequently assumed that listeners perceive 6db as a doubling of the volume level because of the dual scales, but it's not actually true because the human ear doesn't perceive volume linearly. 6db is double the sound pressure, but not necessarily double the sound intensity. Most audio engineers consider 10db to be the rule of thumb for doubling the subjective volume. (but then it depends on the weighting you use)

We could theoretically do some rough math here and say 97db is just short of 50% louder than 93db to the listener, but that would require that we know the measurement methodology, since doubling the distance from an audio source inherently reduces the amplitude by 6db in an acoustically neutral environment. Double can come fast if you are close-micing the source.