In a world of bigger is better and more is great, one can get carried away when modifying their vehicle with the bigger or more mindset. One area that is most common among customers with regrets is the exhaust and the parts that customers put on their vehicles to modify their exhausts.
Your high flow 4 inch down pipe and catback may sound terrific at full throttle at the top of third gear with your hair on fire, but can be troublesome on the street. Everyday drivers can also be affected with high flow low-resistance exhausts that can drone and sound bad at part throttle loads.
You’ve all had that moment when your exhaust was so loud you had to yell at your passengers, or your girlfriend or even worse your mother.
Too loud or too much drone is always a subjective thing when it comes to exhaust note, and this case is no different. Some people may favor the loud raspy catback sound, but there’s quite a few other people that don’t want the drone or the buzzy raspy sounds to their exhaust.
The drone on the freeway can become annoying and cause problems when trying to to do normal everyday things, such as speak to your passengers or speak on the phone. If you are a performance enthusiast that doesn’t like drone and think that the noise is distracting, Synapse has a true solution for you with their No Drone resonators.
These resonators are meant to weld onto your existing exhaust and utilizing the Helmholtz theory of resonance that relates to air passing over an empty cavity. Intake systems have long used this kind of technology in their intake snorkel to decrease NVH (Noise Vibration Harshness) in the cabin of the vehicle.
In an exhaust system this cavity is part of the no drone resonator, which must be welded in place. The result is a deeper sounding exhaust with a significant reduction in drone and rasp. This resonator will not lower or decrease your total exhaust output, but rather change the exhaust note to something lower and deeper.
Check out Synapse Engineering’s Youtube video here :
As shown above the resonators act inline with your performance exhaust, drawing exhaust into the chamber where they are nullified. Not only does the lineup from Synapse Engineering eliminate exhaust drone but with a variety of sizes, you can ‘tune’ your exhaust for the perfect sound.
The system works by creating a second pathway for sound waves to travel from the main exhaust system. Once those waves hit the end of the NoDrone resonator, they bounce back to cancel out the targeted sound. The longer the T-resonator, the higher the frequency cancellation, shorter length tubes cancel out lower frequencies.
Part numbers for these NoDrone resonators from Synapse are as follows, with MS signifying mild steel construction and SS signifying T304 Stainless steel :
- ND06SS – Specs: 2”x6” Overall Length
- ND12MS – Specs: 2”x6” Overall Length
- ND12SS – Specs: 2”x12” Overall Length
- ND18MS – Specs: 2”x12” Overall Length
- ND18SS – Specs: 2”x18” Overall Length
- ND24MS – Specs: 2”x18” Overall Length
- ND24SS – Specs: 2”x24” Overall Length
Typically a 500 RPM shift of a car’s resonant frequency is all that is needed to enjoy a more powerful, yet less annoying exhaust note.TThe initial systems will be weld-on and come in preset lengths, but according to Synapse they expect to release an adjustable kit in 2014 that will allow users and shops to fine-tune the resonant phase cancellation without having to cut and re-weld.
Sign us up.