While car hunting, I remember this 2012 article:
The Rise of the Fake Engine Roar

Now it's back, and in a big way:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...cb4_story.html

*&*

The sound of your car?s engine might just be a lie | PBS NewsHour

On the other hand..... I had posted this below article about the engineering of the exhaust note on our F-type: 2014 Jaguar F-Type is calibrated for sonic delight - SAE International on reddit, and someone mentioned how "disappointing" it was:

https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/commen...wa&sh=a7a54044

People were sad about it being fake, but I figure proper engineering of a real sound that is forced is hardly as fake as stereophonic sounds. I mean... VW, Mustang, Corvetter, PORSCHE?!?!? Seriously?

Is Jag free and clear of this (I think so).... but what do you think, how do you feel, etc? I assume you knew this???

Would love your thoughts... is this just "meh" and par for the modern course of emission regulations and incredible soundproofing, or is this highly stupid and disappointing? =)

On my road trip across 9 states, I saw countless Mustang, Corvette, Camaro, Charger, Challenger.... and 3 Porsche (2 new, 1 classic), and no F-Type, but three Jag sedands.

I wonder how 'Merkan car owners would feel about their pony or muscle "sports cars" in relation to this? Does the new and highly heralded Corvette do this as well?

Is this widely known and just accepted, or is this not really known?

 

If you don't like the "symphonizer" on the F-Type, you can always remove it and add the 200 sport cats.

 

Explain sir. You know I am a layman's layman. I have zero problems in any way... but assume you are either being sardonic or 100% legit. I can't tell LOL. I waffle between gullibility, naivety, and cynical skepticism.

Only thing I found was that they pipe the sound in through exhaust or whatever, but not fake sounds?
sports exhaust button install - 6SpeedOnline - Porsche Forum and Luxury Car Resource

 

There is a device located just behind the F-Type engine that captures sound waves from the exhaust manifold and pipes that sound directly into the cabin. I believe they actually call it a "symphonizer". You can search that term on our forum to see what it is all about. I'll try to remember to put smilie faces on jestful posts.

 

Piping sounds in and creating sounds are not the same in my book. All exhaust sounds are manufactured, some are just tuned as well. Fake would be not emanating from the actual pipe that emits exhaust.

 

Agreed.
I would have a problem with it, except when someone else drives my car I can hear it coming down under street, and I'm sitting indoors, behind double pane glass.
I can recognize the notes, so I'm pretty sure it's making the same sounds inside that it makes outside, and I'm sure it's louder outside the car, than it is inside, even though it's pretty loud inside

 

It's called a "symposer" and it channels intake noise to a small megaphone mounted on the firewall, behind the dash.

I found it to be quite annoying because when I would hit a certain rpm/load the cabin filled with a droning noise. I disabled mine (job takes a couple of minutes) but would prefer removal (get those pieces out of the way, but it looks like a royal pain). I am *much* happier with the sound now that the cabin isn't being used as a resonator.

 

I've completely removed mine on my 2010 XKR, and it IS a MAJOR pain. Easier just to disable. Although I never noticed a difference. (Maybe it wasn't working before, idk.)

 

I feel the same way.

Actually I went out of my way to make the supercharger whine louder on my XJR by getting rid of the plastic intake with the heimholz resonators and replacing it with a metal tube, and removing the flap from the airbox.

I also removed the insulaton from the rear of the bonnet to let more noise (and heat) out.

Have I faked my engine sound?

My understanding of the symposer is that it directs intake noise into the cabin, not the exhaust noise. Some pictures and explanation in this thread https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...riants-101271/

 

I'm not bothered one bit by engineered sound in cars.

Design for experience is EVERYWHERE these days. Nobody expects a house with stone cladding to actually be built of giant stone blocks. Or a wood car dashboard to be actually made of full natural wood that will warp and splinter dangerously in an accident.

An interesting question to me is: how do we embrace what sound design can do and use it to create richness in sound that could never have been achieved in previous generations of cars?

I think Ferrari, Aston, Maserati and Jaguar have realized that volume is not the same as quality in exhaust notes, in the same way that someone who yells loudly doesn't sound the same as an opera singer, or vodka is very different from fine wine. They have produced (to varying degrees) cars that create rich and highly crafted sound.

What I'm less of a fan of is the practice of modding cars to get to the loudest most brutal possible sound. That feels to me like the same lack of restraint that leads to boring, murdered black cars.

In terms of sound, it's like being gifted a high-end tube amp and Bowers and Wilkins speakers for a fine British living room, then tossing it in the trash and replacing it with a felt-covered 8000 watt outdoor concert speaker in the same room.
Yeah it gets attention, but I'm just not sure it's the right kind.

 

Edit: yeah, definitely misunderstood, but keeping my rant cuz its not directed at anyone, and cuz I meant it, edit done.

I think you may have gone too far in the other direction, or I may have misunderstood your intent.

I think it's blasphemous (I kid, it's bad though) to add fake engine noises. The engine noise is not a sound we listen to because it is beautiful in of itself, it's beautiful because it indicates there is an engine under the hood, burning fuel and cranking things.

I hated driving a c63 amg because that thing sounds like a beast when I'm just cruising in the parking lot. However, it only sounds like that to me. Everyone else doesn't hear a thing. I'm supposed to be the fool who thinks he's in a race car, but the car isn't even doing 5mph. And that car car can at least say it has a v8. Don't get me started on the m3.

 

+1

 

I actually agree with you. Engineered exhaust tone is different from artificial engine noise. Both could be called "fake", just to different degrees. At some point it becomes ridiculous though, and yeah I think at the point where there is a loudspeaker in the car or outside that seems pretty damn contrived.

 

There's a difference between an engineered sound from intake or exhaust design, or the controlled misfire in the F-Type at one end, and at the other is the "faked" engine sounds played through the cars audio system at the other.

I'm looking right at BMW here...

They had the outrageous 5.0L V10 in the E60 M5, it sounded a million bucks.

Then came the F10 M5 with it's twin-turbo 4.4L V8, and it sounded so lame in comparison to the V10 that they had to come up with this fake engine sound played through the audio system.

Not the topic of this thread but this is my greatest concern about JLR using a twin-turbo V8 from BMW in future, the soundtrack of the F-Type will be lost, and you get something played through the speakers instead... god I hope not...

 

I don't think that this is a much of a problem in a vert. With the top down, the music definitely comes from the four pipes in the rear.

 

Correct.... you did not. Piping sounds isn't a concern. cars using the speakers to create fake engine sounds seems totally different to me.

 

Apparently, most of this BMW sound is fake:

 

Aw those Europeans don't care.

 

Somebody had to do it!

 

I don't expect to sway many opinions, but ...

I think the V6S sounds better without the symposer "enhancement." The sound isn't fake, but it's enhanced in a way that grates on me. At a specific point, the cabin gets filled with sound that seems disembodied. It may not be "fake" but it doesn't seem "right." With the symposer disabled I can hear the engine sounds from the front and the exhaust sounds from the rear, as it should be.