Magnaflow mufflers - Straight through vs chambered

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Dec 7, 2016
Messages
512
Location
Wisconsin
Anyone have experience with both? Tough shopping for mufflers when you really don't know what you're getting till it's installed. I've heard loud chambered, quiet straight-through, and vice versa... so I really don't know what to expect when it comes to these specific models.

Like the rest of the world, I'm simply looking for a little idle burble, WOT throat, and highway silence. Minute, insignificant performance changes are not a concern - only looking for sound.

Considering 4"x9"x18" in either configuration. To avoid any unnecessary discussion (other brands, other sizes), only one of these two I've linked are in the running:

Chambered
Straight-through
 
They both have unique sounds that only you can decide which u like better as its all preference. I prefer the straight thru sound Vs chambered. The hardest part is getting "highway silence". In my experience, magnaflow and most aftermarket performance mufflers drone. But it will depend on your vehicle. Good luck.
 
Chambered mufflers are louder than the straight through, but a different kind of loud. I would describe the chambered as throaty/raspy while the straight through has a deep powerful sound. I've heard both on a crown vic. My personal preference is the straight through. Youtube clips (with headphones to help with the bass) can be helpful.
 
If you have a shop in mind to do the sale and install, ask if they will hang each on (not welded) and let you listen on the rack. I"ve done it before, usually not a problem.

I have the "wide body" HUMONGOUS Magnaflows in full duals and Hooker headers (5" by 11" by 22" body) on my 406 SBC truck. Very nice sound. Smooth but like others say, they do drone at cruise some but I don't mind a little. Every engine and every bend and every muffler sounds a little different. A tough call from a computer.

Mark
 
Originally Posted By: CT8
Quite is better always.


+1

In high school I loved loud exhaust. Now stealth is the name of the game. Loud exhaust seems to only attract attention from cops.
 
I'd go with the chambered muffler because there's a chance the chambers will reduce drone causing resonance and there's no packing to degrade.
 
I don't know if Magnaflow has changed their design on their straight-through mufflers recently or not. The last time I checked, (about 3 years ago) their straight-through mufflers with case lengths over 18", they used a two-piece tube poorly welded together in the middle of the muffler. It was a design that is almost guaranteed to fail, and they often did/do.

So if you choose one of their straight-through designs with a case length over 18", inspect it closely to see if they are still using a two-piece tube design, before installing.
 
Chambered has no place on a classy Crown Vic imho. Leave those gutted tin can chambered dronesters for the Mustang brothers.

Borla makes some nice and durable hardware if you can swing it.
 
I'd suggest glasspacks, long glass packs. Won't be popular on bitog. With the factory cats, its not that loud.

I have them on the olds, and the avalanche.
 
Running dynomax ultraflow (straight through style) with o/r x pipe in the mustang. Same engine as the Vic... Love it, great tone and sounds mean at wot but otherwise rather quiet and tame. Had the chambered dynomax on a Vic before I found them obnoxious.
 
The final sound depends SO much on things other than just the muffler that its going to be almost impossible to predict.

I have the straight-thru Magnaflows on my '69 Coronet R/T. It has the factory high-performance cast iron manifolds (not equal-length headers), 2.5" tubing front to back, and an "H" pipe crossover ahead of the mufflers- as nearly a copy of the stock 1969 Dodge system as possible without buying an actual reproduction factory system. Obviously no catcons in 1969.

At idle and cruising, it has a deep-throated burble that sounds a lot like the stock Goerlich mufflers from 1969 did, maybe just a little louder. But as you open the throttle, there comes a point where the sound, for lack of a better description, "punches through" the muffling effect and it almost sounds like straight pipes. For that car (not daily driven) I absolutely freakin' LOVE the results.

Headers would probably change that a lot, since some of the "punch" effect is due to the stacking of exhaust pulses in the manifolds as opposed to equal-length tubes. Catcons would quiet it and possibly make it a little raspier by smoothing the low-frequency pulses through the tubes Removing the H-pipe would likely make it drone at highway speeds. My concern in a car like a Crown Vic would be that even with the catcons, the other effects (and especially if it doesn't have a crossover or H-pipe) would make it drone too much for your taste at highway speeds. But honestly, I've had worse drone on other cars with similar exhaust and chambered mufflers, so I'm not really sure that's necessarily going to be better overall.

Modern muscle car exhaust systems have a whole lot going on *just* to get a little loudness without highway drone- look at the combination of resonators and mufflers on a Challenger, Mustang, or Camaro (not even considering the active exhaust dampers on SRT and Hellcat Challengers, Corvettes, etc.). And the biggest disappointment I see on the forums when people change exhaust systems is that it causes drone.
 
If I ever wanted a cool exhaust and there wasn't a good catback available for it, I'd have a muffler shop do a custom exhaust with a glasspack for the resonator along with a Dynomax muffler
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
The final sound depends SO much on things other than just the muffler that its going to be almost impossible to predict.

I have the straight-thru Magnaflows on my '69 Coronet R/T. It has the factory high-performance cast iron manifolds (not equal-length headers), 2.5" tubing front to back, and an "H" pipe crossover ahead of the mufflers- as nearly a copy of the stock 1969 Dodge system as possible without buying an actual reproduction factory system. Obviously no catcons in 1969.

At idle and cruising, it has a deep-throated burble that sounds a lot like the stock Goerlich mufflers from 1969 did, maybe just a little louder. But as you open the throttle, there comes a point where the sound, for lack of a better description, "punches through" the muffling effect and it almost sounds like straight pipes. For that car (not daily driven) I absolutely freakin' LOVE the results.

Headers would probably change that a lot, since some of the "punch" effect is due to the stacking of exhaust pulses in the manifolds as opposed to equal-length tubes. Catcons would quiet it and possibly make it a little raspier by smoothing the low-frequency pulses through the tubes Removing the H-pipe would likely make it drone at highway speeds. My concern in a car like a Crown Vic would be that even with the catcons, the other effects (and especially if it doesn't have a crossover or H-pipe) would make it drone too much for your taste at highway speeds. But honestly, I've had worse drone on other cars with similar exhaust and chambered mufflers, so I'm not really sure that's necessarily going to be better overall.

Modern muscle car exhaust systems have a whole lot going on *just* to get a little loudness without highway drone- look at the combination of resonators and mufflers on a Challenger, Mustang, or Camaro (not even considering the active exhaust dampers on SRT and Hellcat Challengers, Corvettes, etc.). And the biggest disappointment I see on the forums when people change exhaust systems is that it causes drone.



Thanks.

I'm not doing a system overhaul (it's in great shape, plus that's an expensive endeavor), just a muffler replacement. Retaining the stock piping, all 4 cats, resonators in the tailpipes...
 
I had a chambered Magnaflow on an Ford Expedition 5.4. It was nice and quiet at cruise but sounded great when you got on the pedal. I had Flowmaster 50 series on a Yukon 5.7 prior to the Expedition and the Magnaflow sounded definitely better.

OTOH I had some exhaust work done on a 1996 Jaguar XJ-R. It has a supercharged 4.0L straight 6 with a bizarrely complicated exhaust system: 2 manifolds (1 for 3 cylinders) feeding an exhaust pipe each to a pre-cat, which joint into one pipe to feed a main cat, then it splits into 2 again into a resonator each then 2 tailpipes. Sheesh. The pre-cats embolized into the main cat. We have no emissions testing here but visually they need to see a cat, so the muffler shop banged out the pre-cats and re-installed them, replaced the main cat with a glass pack muffler and reconnected it to the rest of the system. It passes inspection, and sound identical to before.

I said all this to suggest maybe a glass-pack isn't such a crazy idea. You already have 4 cats plus resonators so it's not like the muffler is doing most of the quieting.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top