[shellx]

Originally Posted by LouK

Legitimaly any 3inch X pipe from an exhaust shop. Went to a shop they had 3 inch stainless in stock. 2 hours later it was welded and I was driving away.

I went with an AWE midpipe. Worked out great.

[pbonsalb]

AWE, Remus, Eisenmann and Dinan sell unresonated X pipes. Dinan’s version just replaces the first few feet where the X is, while the others go to the rear axle. Not sure it matters in terms of performance, but the longer ones should be slightly louder because they are replacing more of the heavy gauge stainless stock piping with aftermarket thin gauge stainless that absorbs less sound.

All of these require some cutting of the stock one-piece exhaust. Whatever you like most and fits your budget gets the job done. If your local exhaust shop will weld in an unresonated stainless X for less than the cost of buying and installing one of those aftermarket resonator delete sections, consider it.

[916_M5]

Originally Posted by 916_M5

Keep it stock. If not I LOVE MY AWE exhaust. nice and deep tone

Here is a sound clip of my exhaust set up.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2la6...M0N2Q2NDBjYg==

[TFBravo]

Originally Posted by johnny5ive

Hi, I'm a boring adult so I'd like to get a new exahust system but I want it to sound deeper and not necessarily absurdly loud. My day starts around 5.15am and I can't have my neighbors want to kill me.

Any suggestions on a system that''ll give it some punch without it being overly loud? Bonus points for some flap control in there to keep it quieter if necessary.

Thanks!

I got a very nice set up, best of both worlds. I was trying to imitate my late E63S AMG. I got MAD catless secondaries, stock mid-pipes and Remus valved axle back. With the valves closed it sounds slightly deeper than stock, so you still retain that comfort for highway and daily traffic driving. Point is you actually still have that evidence of a V8 under the hood with valves closed.

I went with stock resonators for important reason, to have little to ZERO drone in those low RPM (1700-2300), which is 90% of your daily commute. Be very careful with others suggesting of changing/ removing your resonators, straight piping ect, even with valves you will get a very annoying drone in the cabin. Yes all those exhausts sounds great when being revved but this is still a 120K luxury 5 series, not a WRX. But its personal choice if you want to have a quite cabin or have that WOOOOOO buffeting noise.

In regards to not waking up your neighbors nothing beats the stock exhaust, during the cold start, valves are open for about 20 seconds, so any kind of modification from stock will make your car more louder. Saving grace is that its only 20 seconds or less.

With the valves open, you can hear the turbo spool faintly while pulling away, way louder bangs and farts during shifts, and great V8 throaty sound not just initially but through out the entire RPM range, which is the result of the open secondary. Axlebacks by themselves only change the noise up to 4k rpms.

But the cold or warm start ups sound way more aggressive, and I can't get enough of them. And during idle with the valves open you get that V8 rumble.

[bxdinster]

ome thing i can tell you is my fully catless system paired with Fi exhaust is really loud with valves open in m mode but once u close them valves this thing is quieter than when it was oem with stock cats it is insane how quiet it gets..

[pbonsalb]

It’s not the brand that matters — any of the aftermarket valved exhausts with the pipes merged at some point do a great job at making the car sound near stock with the valves closed, even with aftermarket downpipes. Turbos chew up the exhaust, so the starting point is quieter than with a naturally aspirated V8, which helps.

[bxdinster]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

It’s not the brand that matters — any of the aftermarket valved exhausts with the pipes merged at some point do a great job at making the car sound near stock with the valves closed, even with aftermarket downpipes. Turbos chew up the exhaust, so the starting point is quieter than with a naturally aspirated V8, which helps.

ya but the fi exhaust muffler is bigger than all aftermarkets and oem i stand by whatni said if we had a competition on who can have the quietest m5 exhaust with valves closed I think Fi takin the W so for people who want a very loud exhaust that gets quieter than stock its worth looking at

[pbonsalb]

It does look like it wins on length. Not sure about volume. The Akra looks bulkier. The Armytrix looks long also. I suppose you could get dimensions and do muffler volume comparisons if the biggest muffler possible is the goal. Any valved exhaust will make most people happy in my opinion. Those who want as loud as possible all the time can skip the valves and there are even a few exhausts without mufflers or valves.

[Inprogress]

I just got the Mad catback installled to go along with my Mad secondary downpipes and it's not loud at all in my opinion. Windows up in sport or sport plus mode i hear just a slight increase in noise but it's nothing like any exhaust I've ever installed on any previous car I've owned (GTR, Evo X, STI, M3, Audi S4).

Windows down and to the people outside it is a different story, but for my daily drive highway/city it's not bad at all...in fact I think i'd want it a little louder

[LouK]

Originally Posted by Inprogress

I just got the Mad catback installled to go along with my Mad secondary downpipes and it's not loud at all in my opinion. Windows up in sport or sport plus mode i hear just a slight increase in noise but it's nothing like any exhaust I've ever installed on any previous car I've owned (GTR, Evo X, STI, M3, Audi S4).

Windows down and to the people outside it is a different story, but for my daily drive highway/city it's not bad at all...in fact I think i'd want it a little louder

Did you have a stock catback prior to your mad catback install? I currently have X pipe and secondaries and want a little more but have to keep some type of muffler due to inspections. I don't think i will gain much by swapping the axleback out.

[Inprogress]

Yeah, I had a stock cat back prior

[pbonsalb]

Originally Posted by LouK

Did you have a stock catback prior to your mad catback install? I currently have X pipe and secondaries and want a little more but have to keep some type of muffler due to inspections. I don't think i will gain much by swapping the axleback out.

Like everyone says, the aftermarket valved and muffled exhausts are very civilized at idle and gently driving in Efficient mode, even with downpipes. Put your foot down and even in Efficient mode the valves open and the exhaust is louder than stock. In Sport Plus, it is still civilized at idle and driving gently though pops and bangs are more common due to the tuning for Sport Plus, and free revving or driving hard is wild and loud. To me the full aftermarket valved exhaust is great. If I was 20 something and single, maybe I would want no valves and no muffler, but those days were long long ago. Titanium is thinner and offers a little more exotic sound than stainless, but any aftermarket stainless is much thinner than stock stainless.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by Inprogress

I just got the Mad catback installled to go along with my Mad secondary downpipes and it's not loud at all in my opinion. Windows up in sport or sport plus mode i hear just a slight increase in noise but it's nothing like any exhaust I've ever installed on any previous car I've owned (GTR, Evo X, STI, M3, Audi S4).

Windows down and to the people outside it is a different story, but for my daily drive highway/city it's not bad at all...in fact I think i'd want it a little louder

the MAD is an excellent daily driver, its more noticeably more aggressive than stock with a deeper mid range but not obnoxious.

if you want more sound, you can add the MAD primary catted to pair with the secondary pipes you already upgraded.

[Info@mad-us.com]

Originally Posted by Inprogress

I just got the Mad catback installled to go along with my Mad secondary downpipes and it's not loud at all in my opinion. Windows up in sport or sport plus mode i hear just a slight increase in noise but it's nothing like any exhaust I've ever installed on any previous car I've owned (GTR, Evo X, STI, M3, Audi S4).

Windows down and to the people outside it is a different story, but for my daily drive highway/city it's not bad at all...in fact I think i'd want it a little louder

Adding primaries will change that really quick.

[GranitM5]

Originally Posted by Info@mad-us.com

Adding primaries will change that really quick.

Agreed. I am running SSR downpipes upper/lower with your exhaust system. With valves closed, I was shocked that it is quieter than with stock exhaust. With valves open, in comfort it is still very tame. In sport plus and valves open, it just screams through the gears.

[Info@mad-us.com]

Originally Posted by GranitM5

Agreed. I am running SSR downpipes upper/lower with your exhaust system. With valves closed, I was shocked that it is quieter than with stock exhaust. With valves open, in comfort it is still very tame. In sport plus and valves open, it just screams through the gears.

It's a great setup for those that want business to party with the click of a button.

[Jabo]

Ask 20 people and get 20 different answers. It’s frustrating. And, it seems like there’s two different categories of answers. 1) some dude pushing an exhaust from a company they work for doing it undercover with a username appearing like just an M5 owner expressing personal experience. Like this thread for example - MAD got here first, so MAD is the best and most popular. Find another thread with the same conversation, but an undercover AWE rep got there first, so AWE is the best and most popular. Fi, valvetronic, on and on. And, count on the actual rep or Mike from XHP popping up so you can quickly buy it after the fake M5 owner convinces you it’s the best. Or, “hey, here’s my exhaust, listen to the cold start, listen to the revs in my driveway. It sounds like a drive buy shooting. So cool” Who cares???!!! Awesome - You gotta cool cold start. $120k for an awesome cold start and gunshots that make 90% of people snicker at you because you have a $120k car that sounds like there’s something wrong with it. You bought a $120k car that you sawed chunks of the bottom out of. The other 20% love it, and they’re all around the age of 18. M5 guys are the Woodersons of the expensive car world. The older I get, the little punks with Frankenstein 20 year old BMW’s in a high school parking lot stay the same age. Full out WOT videos suck too. It’s like 5 seconds before we’re at jailable speeds in these cars, so that’s mostly useless. What is it like for the vast majority of driving? What does it sound like driving around at normal speeds, most importantly in the cabin? Is it going to make my plastic buzz? Am I going to get home with a drone headache and nauseous from gas fumes? Is it going to sound great outside, but in the cabin sound like my big brother’s Honda Accord with a potato shooter that was on sale at Auto Zone? Am I only going to enjoy this car if I drive around with the windows down? I took advice on the Remus from one of these threads listening to everybody’s dumb a** cold start/rev videos. I’m $4k lighter, and the car was ruined. It sounded like a tin can inside the car. The plastic buzzed and my head ringed at exactly the speed and RPM that 90% of driving is done. Nearly all of these aftermarket exhaust options are probably like that. I went back 3 days later, and had them put the stock exhaust back in. The damn thing was equal in cost to a couple down payments on a house or my entire education all the way through law school. Give me real scenarios. I should throw the piece of sh*t Remus in a dumpster or give it to a homeless metal scrapper. Charge it to the game. Make the car sound awesome, tolerable in the cabin and deserving of a place on a $120k car. X pipe, C pipe, Z pipe, Q pipe. It’s Dr. Seuss’ M5. That’s the problem with BMW. You spend 120k for the car and then another 15-30 G’s making it the way it should have been in the first place. At least those piece of sh*t Dodge cars come the way they should be straight off the car lot. Here’s a truth bomb - nearly everybody around our cars as we drive around thinks we’re obnoxious a**holes and the car sounds like sh*t - no matter what we do to it.

[pbonsalb]

Seems like you had a negative experience with a $4k exhaust purchase. Sell it for half what you paid and consider it a lesson learned for you. Many of us still pay to learn them even when we are older.

I probably drive over 80% of my 10k miles per year in Efficient mode, which is the quietest exhaust setting. Of the remaining 20%, probably 15% is in Sport mode, which is louder but without the burbles, and maybe 5% in Sport Plus, but it is fun sometimes even when you are older, at least for me.

I have an aftermarket exhaust. I do notice an increase in resonance around 1700-1800 rpm when cruising gently in Efficient mode. To me it is not a drone. I have no complaints and the exhaust does exactly what I wanted. And it cost under $2k.

[Stlthnmrdrd]

Originally Posted by Jabo

Ask 20 people and get 20 different answers. It’s frustrating. And, it seems like there’s two different categories of answers. 1) some dude pushing an exhaust from a company they work for doing it undercover with a username appearing like just an M5 owner expressing personal experience. Like this thread for example - MAD got here first, so MAD is the best and most popular. Find another thread with the same conversation, but an undercover AWE rep got there first, so AWE is the best and most popular. Fi, valvetronic, on and on. And, count on the actual rep or Mike from XHP popping up so you can quickly buy it after the fake M5 owner convinces you it’s the best. Or, “hey, here’s my exhaust, listen to the cold start, listen to the revs in my driveway. It sounds like a drive buy shooting. So cool” Who cares???!!! Awesome - You gotta cool cold start. $120k for an awesome cold start and gunshots that make 90% of people snicker at you because you have a $120k car that sounds like there’s something wrong with it. You bought a $120k car that you sawed chunks of the bottom out of. The other 20% love it, and they’re all around the age of 18. M5 guys are the Woodersons of the expensive car world. The older I get, the little punks with Frankenstein 20 year old BMW’s in a high school parking lot stay the same age. Full out WOT videos suck too. It’s like 5 seconds before we’re at jailable speeds in these cars, so that’s mostly useless. What is it like for the vast majority of driving? What does it sound like driving around at normal speeds, most importantly in the cabin? Is it going to make my plastic buzz? Am I going to get home with a drone headache and nauseous from gas fumes? Is it going to sound great outside, but in the cabin sound like my big brother’s Honda Accord with a potato shooter that was on sale at Auto Zone? Am I only going to enjoy this car if I drive around with the windows down? I took advice on the Remus from one of these threads listening to everybody’s dumb a** cold start/rev videos. I’m $4k lighter, and the car was ruined. It sounded like a tin can inside the car. The plastic buzzed and my head ringed at exactly the speed and RPM that 90% of driving is done. Nearly all of these aftermarket exhaust options are probably like that. I went back 3 days later, and had them put the stock exhaust back in. The damn thing was equal in cost to a couple down payments on a house or my entire education all the way through law school. Give me real scenarios. I should throw the piece of sh*t Remus in a dumpster or give it to a homeless metal scrapper. Charge it to the game. Make the car sound awesome, tolerable in the cabin and deserving of a place on a $120k car. X pipe, C pipe, Z pipe, Q pipe. It’s Dr. Seuss’ M5. That’s the problem with BMW. You spend 120k for the car and then another 15-30 G’s making it the way it should have been in the first place. At least those piece of sh*t Dodge cars come the way they should be straight off the car lot. Here’s a truth bomb - nearly everybody around our cars as we drive around thinks we’re obnoxious a**holes and the car sounds like sh*t - no matter what we do to it.

Yea its true and kinda sad. I really wish I was able to help u out. Im running 2ndary catless with dinan x pipe with stock exhaust and stock primary cats. Its perfect, cheap, and sounds like how it should've came from factory. All the aftermarket exhausts literally sound the same, u are paying for the brand name and that's it. The setup I have is deep, refined, sounds classy, sleek, and sexy for just less than $1000.

Remus is the worst exhaust for the m5, and don't know where these idiots who rave about the remus exhaust for the m5. Yea they sound good on other cars, but on the m5 u have to be tone deaf with bad taste to think that the rasp honda rice rocket setup sounds good. Remus is setup where its a true dual, so 1 pipe connects to 1 half of the v8 and the other connecting to the remaining 4. So u literally have 2 inline 4's just spewing out ear rape from each pipe, with nothing but a useless Helmholtz resonator muting out almost nothing

[Info@mad-us.com]

Originally Posted by Jabo

Ask 20 people and get 20 different answers. It’s frustrating. And, it seems like there’s two different categories of answers. 1) some dude pushing an exhaust from a company they work for doing it undercover with a username appearing like just an M5 owner expressing personal experience. Like this thread for example - MAD got here first, so MAD is the best and most popular. Find another thread with the same conversation, but an undercover AWE rep got there first, so AWE is the best and most popular. Fi, valvetronic, on and on. And, count on the actual rep or Mike from XHP popping up so you can quickly buy it after the fake M5 owner convinces you it’s the best. Or, “hey, here’s my exhaust, listen to the cold start, listen to the revs in my driveway. It sounds like a drive buy shooting. So cool” Who cares???!!! Awesome - You gotta cool cold start. $120k for an awesome cold start and gunshots that make 90% of people snicker at you because you have a $120k car that sounds like there’s something wrong with it. You bought a $120k car that you sawed chunks of the bottom out of. The other 20% love it, and they’re all around the age of 18. M5 guys are the Woodersons of the expensive car world. The older I get, the little punks with Frankenstein 20 year old BMW’s in a high school parking lot stay the same age. Full out WOT videos suck too. It’s like 5 seconds before we’re at jailable speeds in these cars, so that’s mostly useless. What is it like for the vast majority of driving? What does it sound like driving around at normal speeds, most importantly in the cabin? Is it going to make my plastic buzz? Am I going to get home with a drone headache and nauseous from gas fumes? Is it going to sound great outside, but in the cabin sound like my big brother’s Honda Accord with a potato shooter that was on sale at Auto Zone? Am I only going to enjoy this car if I drive around with the windows down? I took advice on the Remus from one of these threads listening to everybody’s dumb a** cold start/rev videos. I’m $4k lighter, and the car was ruined. It sounded like a tin can inside the car. The plastic buzzed and my head ringed at exactly the speed and RPM that 90% of driving is done. Nearly all of these aftermarket exhaust options are probably like that. I went back 3 days later, and had them put the stock exhaust back in. The damn thing was equal in cost to a couple down payments on a house or my entire education all the way through law school. Give me real scenarios. I should throw the piece of sh*t Remus in a dumpster or give it to a homeless metal scrapper. Charge it to the game. Make the car sound awesome, tolerable in the cabin and deserving of a place on a $120k car. X pipe, C pipe, Z pipe, Q pipe. It’s Dr. Seuss’ M5. That’s the problem with BMW. You spend 120k for the car and then another 15-30 G’s making it the way it should have been in the first place. At least those piece of sh*t Dodge cars come the way they should be straight off the car lot. Here’s a truth bomb - nearly everybody around our cars as we drive around thinks we’re obnoxious a**holes and the car sounds like sh*t - no matter what we do to it.

I hear you on this it can be a dumpster fire sometimes as everyone has different opinions on what sounds good to them. You also need to keep in mind the age of the poster. I know what I thought sounded good in my earlier days would never be on my vehicle now.

What is it you are looking for exactly and be descriptive .? I can give an honest opinion even if it's not our product.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Please use some spacing, it makes it easier to read

Originally Posted by Jabo

Mike from XHP popping up so you can quickly buy it after the fake M5 owner convinces you it’s the best.

Who is that "fake M5 owner" you're referring to who is influencing your purchase decisions?
I never employed anyone to post about our products, nor do I have any "fake" owners or pay anyone to share their thoughts on the forum.

Your allegations, especially those mentioning me by name, are baseless and without any proof. This is a car forum where individuals share their opinions and experiences. if that's not your thing, perhaps forums might not be the best fit for you.

Regardless, I appreciate your participation but kindly ask you to refrain using my name in baseless accusations.