Went to the Stockholm International Engineering and Technology Fair today. Among miniaturized submarines and crypto cellphones I med the CEO of SoundRacer Kenneth Palmestål, who is by the way from Trollhättan. His company has sold close to 100000 SoundRacers around the globe. Its a little device You plug into the 12V outlet in the car and hook up via FM or Mini DIN stereo plug. Once connected one have a choice of different engine sounds.
From SoundRacer ´s website
My interview with Kenneth today
Kenneth who loves the way the new Saab 9-5 drives striped his car and went to the start of The Gumball 3000 and gave all participants a SoundRacer. He drove his 9-5 from Sweden to London to promote his stuff. His 9-5 looks fantastic!
Kenneth´s video at the Gumball 3000 in London
The V-12 sounds so different from the V-8. The V-12 reminds me of my 3-cylinder 96 going flat out on the M1 and remember 12 can be divided by 3. The V-8 sounds more beefy.
I watched the video on real You Tube and saw all the links to other cars I really like the Koenigsegg CCX for a sound for this system. Great stuff because you can turn it on, on demand, which you cannot do with a set exhaust system.
I beg your pardon. But such noises don´t correspond with a comfortable car like a 9-5 II.
It is not for all the time but just when one feels like it like driving on fun roads. My Viggen has a BSR exhaust which is actually more silent than the original. But sometimes sound like this would be awesome like when I drove from Durango to Montrose, Colorado in 1 hr 54 min over the 10,000 ft+ mountains with no radio reception!
I’m in your same position… I too have the BSR exhaust and while it sounds nice, the OEM Viggen exhaust sounds 1000x better.
Did you ask him if he had delivered the built-in Soundracer kind-of device on the new M5?
Too bad you can’t update the sounds on the M5, as it would have been fun to get some 2stroke sound for that car.
😉
I have one of these, the V8 version, sadley it only leaves tick over if I go over 1600 revs, so quite often when i do play with it, thats all I get, but its a great iplayer extension.
v12 is def a two-stroke screaming 🙂
I remember seeing a short clip of Gerhard Berger showing the then new Ferrari F50. That car definately sounded like an angry three cylinder two-stroke.
Does anyone else think this device should not exist ? LOL
It doesn’t instill much confidence in mankind… 🙂
Personally I don.t listen to music and I listen to Talk Radio, but remember the AM on a Viggen Radio is practically non-existent, especially in Colorado let alone Wisconsin! I also participate in motor sports so there is a niche for this. If you don’t like it you won’t hear it anyway unlike a Harley with “Pipes!”
I always listen to NPR CarTalk. Best radio show on the planet!
If you listened to the interview (it was in English), SoundRacer’s CEO mentioned developing several iconic Saab engine sounds (two stroke and 99 Turbo to mention a couple).
I can see the fun factor here. I have a CD of racing and high-end engine sounds and I’ve played them in the Saab. This product actually correlates the sound to the engine rpm to make more of a connection to the actual driving experience. In the last couple of weeks I was test driving several cars that make for good to great track cars on a very technical track with lots of acceleration and braking. The real sound was incredible and invigorating. Hearing that sound under more normal on-the-road driving conditions can bring back happy memories!
After saying all that, I bet there will eventually be an IQon app for that!
I cant imagine there is a single saab-fan who will not want this thing when it sounds like a 2-stroke. Cant wait giving this as a birthday/x-mas gift to my relative that strayed away from his life long history of Saabs for a butt ugly boring peguot. It would be the perfect gift to both Saablovers as well as those that believe that Victor Muller is a crook and a compulsive liar.
Tesla should include a SoundRacer with every car it sells. However, I wonder if there’s a way to sync the sounds with a Tesla, particularly since there are no gear shifts.
I’m just stuck on how sexy the 9-5 looks in RED
For many of us in this thread who are obsessed with 2-stokes and the numbers of cylinders, how about a
48-cylinder 2-cycle, Kawasaki, including smoke!
http://youtu.be/6ratfuML9QA