4 ms·
Most of this noise is pumped into the car (to make the consumer happy), not out of the car. The two most common systems in use today are the car stereo (either
by bri3d 12y ago
Most of this noise is pumped into the car (to make the consumer happy), not out of the car. The two most common systems in use today are the car stereo (either amplifying the real engine's sound or by simply synchronizing a synthesis mechanism to the engine's load conditions) or a "sound pipe" which runs from the engine's air intake into the cabin ventilation system.
This article strangely managed to conflate the two by bringing up external electronic car noisemakers, which are entirely unrelated in both purpose and execution to the noisemaking devices explained throughout the rest of the article.
- jacquesm 12y agoIf my car would make less noise I'd be happy. It totally baffles me why someone would want more useless noise in their lives rather than less if that's an option. Music is beautiful, artificial engine noise is just that: noise.
- WalterBright 12y agoThe sound of an approaching Merlin V12 at full throttle is the most thrilling sound in the world. http://www.amazon.com/Sigh-Merlin-Spitfire-Alex-Henshaw/dp/0947554831/ http://www.amazon.com/Sigh-Merlin-Spitfire-Alex-Henshaw/dp/0... "For anyone who has heard a Merlin engine on any aircraft, you will understand the title." No stereo has ever been able to reproduce that sound.
- TazeTSchnitzel 12y agoNostalgia can be insatiable, sure.
- gambiting 12y agoIt would only be nostalgia if you found it attractive because of an old memory you had. If you put someone in a car with a V-12 engine there is a very good probability that they would find the sound exciting, even if they never heard it before. That has absolutely nothing to do with nostalgia.
- hvidgaard 12y agoI think a lot of people like the roar of a reving engine during acceleration. Crusing on the highway, I'll take one quiet engine please. Inccidently, that is exactly what Ford have done in some of the newer ST model - during normal driving, the sound is not enhanced. However, when you accelerate the sound symposer system route more engine noise to the driver so they still get the roar, even though the engine is a downsized FI engine.
- gambiting 12y ago>>Music is beautiful, artificial engine noise is just that: noise. That's just your opinion man. I frequently turn off the stereo in my car to listen to the engine sound instead. Not everyone has to like the same thing.
- mikeash 12y agoSome music is beautiful. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who would classify the music you enjoy as "useless noise" and can't understand why you'd willingly subject yourself to it. A lot of people out there enjoy engine noise. People like different things, that's just how the world is.