Gang,

So I was planning to trade the XKR for an R8, GT3, 997TT, Vantage or the like. Was wanting to shift my own gears again. Therefore I took off the Mina to put my stock exhaust back on.

Then I recently rekindled (yes again) my love for the big cat. Ok, I have to admit the wife driving it where I could get a look as she cruised and remembering how little I owe on it compared to some of the other cars I'm looking at helped a little

Anyhow, I started wanting a bit more noise again. So I removed both resonators and installed an X pipe. Now mind you when I removed both resonators and replaced with straight pipes on the Mina exhaust there was drone. But this time there was not. I am sure it is a combination of the large factory muffler AND the X Pipe to even out the flow and neutralize vibration that made all the difference.

While I like the "look at me sound of the XKR-S or even the Quicksilver etc and would prefer them over stock quiet I have never particularly thought they matched the car. This sound truly befits this car. Very sophisticated HOWL much like an Aston or something more exotic. These should sound more like Aston - a deep hollow wail in which you don't hear that blap blap like a musclecar or a giant farting! Prefer a high pedigree sound that is very loud. So to turn the volume up a bit I will go back to the Mina - which combined with X Pipe should be perfect.

It should be noted that over the years I have done all sorts of combos on all sorts of cars with good muffler shops. Generally, if you use a smaller muffler like a Flowmaster etc it will increase sound while keeping drone low. But I have just learned something new. You MUST do the X Pipe. If you don't you will have drone.

Here are a couple of clips. Excuse the BB phone cam quality. I will post again after I put the Mina back on.

 

And some people still say there's no such thing as ADHD.

Just kidding. I'm sure it will take me a pleasant number of hours googling to understand all that, but for what it's worth, it sounds beautiful.

 

I don't think exhaust drone is materially affected by the central resonator whether it is the OEM "balance-tube" or an aftermarket "X" design. My experience is that an "x" seems to reduce harshness of exhaust tone compared to a balance resonator. I'd like to see the results of studies comparing the balance tube of the Jaguar OEM vs. say a resonator with an "x" design like a Magnaflow or Dynomax.

Jaguar addresses drone with its huge rear muffler that has an "active exhaust' feature that provides more back pressure under load in the drone zone (1300-1400 rpm aprox), and then opens up with high load/rpm. Corvette does the same thing. The XK's exhaust valve is spring-loaded and the XKR's is motor operated. You can bet that both Jaguar and Corvette spent serious $$ engineering their rear mufflers to obtain maximum performance at "acceptable" noise levels and costs. Even then there is still audible drone at a low level.

I haven't seen Mina or other aftermarket manufacturer of Jaguar systems claim that their system is drone free. At the same time, I have not heard of drone complaints.

I know of two mfgs who claim to almost eliminate drone. Corsa does this with reverse wave technology (sic), which they claim to engineer for each very specific application. And they do not have an application for Jaguar.
Dynomax has a fairly new/cheap rear muffler called the "VT series" with is basically an active exhaust spring loaded system like the XKs, except it is much smaller. I can vouch for its effectiveness. Had a Magnaflow system (with the addition of a Magnaflow "x" resonator) on a Hyundai V8 that droned horribly. The exchange of VTs to the rear reduced drone to a level where it passed the "wife test."

 

Put the Mina muffler section back on today. Definitely turned up the volume. Very little drone so the X pipe did help as compared to when I just used straight pipes. Sound is deep with complex whine. Hard to explain but definitely sounds good!