Soundaktor

[Deleted member 131219]

]It makes me wonder though, how it's done in the road-legal VAGs. I cannot believe they let some unspent fuel into exhaust just for some noise. Not with the emission madness all around

No they don't; it's synthesised digital sound, an mp3 file if you like.

 

[Peyton]

No they don't; it's synthesised digital sound, an mp3 file if you like.

Exhaust pop/bang is not digital sound. Sound inside the car is.

It's an interesting question how do they do it. I can see two ways, one is that the emissions are measured in Comfort/Default modes which do not pop and bang, other way is that the amount that gets "popped" is so small that the emissions are not really affected.

Btw whole point about it being remnant of the inefficient engines of the past is missing the point. Cars, especially sporty cars are filled with unnecessary stuff, from spoilers and diffusors, to quad exhausts for 2 liter engine to even fake exhausts. These things are added to add character to the car, sporty cars get diffusors, spoilers and exhaust pops because consumers want sporty cars that look like that, probably because we've been conditioned to see sporty cars look and sound like that.

I wonder if in 20-30 years time new generations will see silent cars as sporty (electric) while noisy cars will be seen as slow.

 

[EuKiwi]

Exhaust pop/bang is not digital sound. Sound inside the car is.

It's an interesting question how do they do it. I can see two ways, one is that the emissions are measured in Comfort/Default modes which do not pop and bang, other way is that the amount that gets "popped" is so small that the emissions are not really affected.

Btw whole point about it being remnant of the inefficient engines of the past is missing the point. Cars, especially sporty cars are filled with unnecessary stuff, from spoilers and diffusors, to quad exhausts for 2 liter engine to even fake exhausts. These things are added to add character to the car, sporty cars get diffusors, spoilers and exhaust pops because consumers want sporty cars that look like that, probably because we've been conditioned to see sporty cars look and sound like that.

I wonder if in 20-30 years time new generations will see silent cars as sporty (electric) while noisy cars will be seen as slow.

Like an old Marina with a blown exhaust?

 

[aguy]

noisy cars will be seen as slow.

The shift is starting right now

 

[DuckPit]

Is it in the same place in mk4 Cupra Leon? I'm getting a buzzing kind of rattle from passenger side dash, seems worse in low gear with high revs, for example slowing to turn in to a road, once I've turned in then accelerate it it does it even in comfort mode which I thought had no actuator sound? Cheers

 

[xad3r1ty]

Just unplugged the soundaktor on my cupra leon 300, no more fake noise and wow i'm surprised how it still sounds really loud even on the inside, mine has 13k km tho, so i guess that opened up some of the sound that comes from the exhaust

 

[Peyton]

Just unplugged the soundaktor on my cupra leon 300, no more fake noise and wow i'm surprised how it still sounds really loud even on the inside, mine has 13k km tho, so i guess that opened up some of the sound that comes from the exhaust

I've had my unplugged for a couple of months. Recently I plugged it back in to see if I was misremembering it. And I hated the soundaktor, the sound is extremely strong in Cupra mode, incredibly over the top even when idle. It's really annoying.

After unplugging it again I enjoy my car again and as you said, you can appreciate the real sounds the car makes much more.

 

[xad3r1ty]

I've had my unplugged for a couple of months. Recently I plugged it back in to see if I was misremembering it. And I hated the soundaktor, the sound is extremely strong in Cupra mode, incredibly over the top even when idle. It's really annoying.

After unplugging it again I enjoy my car again and as you said, you can appreciate the real sounds the car makes much more.

Exactly, and in Cupra mode with the soundaktor on depending on how you accelerate you can even notice a slight distorted sound, it's so bad, I enjoy Cupra mode a lot and I was getting headaches because of how loud the fake sound was.

Most people say it's fine or that it even sounds good, sure, for the first 5mins once you buy the car, but try driving for a long journey, 2-3h and you will see how annoying it is.

 

[Deleted member 131219]

Just a suggestion; if you unplug the Soundktor, it might be a good idea to cover over and seal the open terminals, to take away the risk of dust, moisture or any foreign matter getting into the CANBUS.

 

[AndyCupra93]

The Cupra mode idle sound is horrendous. So grating and obviously fake.

You can kind of forgive it when accelerating hard but the worst thing is you can’t turn it off and still enjoy the open exhaust flaps. It’s a shame you have to unplug something to fix the sound.

 

[Napmasterflash]

I think the flaps are open in sport also

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

 

[xad3r1ty]

Just a suggestion; if you unplug the Soundktor, it might be a good idea to cover over and seal the open terminals, to take away the risk of dust, moisture or any foreign matter getting into the CANBUS.

What could I use to cover it? It's so hidden that I doubt anything could get there?

 

[Deleted member 131219]

What could I use to cover it? It's so hidden that I doubt anything could get there?

Up to you but I certainly wouldn’t risk leaving the connectors exposed. Two things electronics hate are dust and moisture. There’s a lot of scope for airborne contaminants under an engine bay, and moist air (of which there’s plenty overnight in winter) gets everywhere, even places you might think are safely tucked away. As for what to use, insulation tape would seem the obvious low tech solution if blanking plugs aren’t available.

I wonder, though, do you need to disconnect it at all? As I understand it, the objective is to run the car in Cupra mode but without the Cupra noise? Would it work if you set up individual profile with everything set to Cupra except for sound, and set that to comfort?

 

[AndyCupra93]

Up to you but I certainly wouldn’t risk leaving the connectors exposed. Two things electronics hate are dust and moisture. There’s a lot of scope for airborne contaminants under an engine bay, and moist air (of which there’s plenty overnight in winter) gets everywhere, even places you might think are safely tucked away. As for what to use, insulation tape would seem the obvious low tech solution if blanking plugs aren’t available.

I wonder, though, do you need to disconnect it at all? As I understand it, the objective is to run the car in Cupra mode but without the Cupra noise? Would it work if you set up individual profile with everything set to Cupra except for sound, and set that to comfort?

As logical as your suggestion sounds, unfortunately if the sound isn’t set to Sport or Cupra mode, the exhaust flaps stay closed.

Just another daft restriction set by the developers…

 

[gregh]

This was the same on my Golf R. Fortunately someone figured out how to code it so the flaps stayed open permanently
Hopefully some can figure it out on the Formentor

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[xad3r1ty]

Up to you but I certainly wouldn’t risk leaving the connectors exposed. Two things electronics hate are dust and moisture. There’s a lot of scope for airborne contaminants under an engine bay, and moist air (of which there’s plenty overnight in winter) gets everywhere, even places you might think are safely tucked away. As for what to use, insulation tape would seem the obvious low tech solution if blanking plugs aren’t available.

I wonder, though, do you need to disconnect it at all? As I understand it, the objective is to run the car in Cupra mode but without the Cupra noise? Would it work if you set up individual profile with everything set to Cupra except for sound, and set that to comfort?

The problem is if i set the sound in comfort flaps don't open and pops are gone , and even then under hard acceleration i still think there's some degree of soundaktor active there, sport brings it up and cupra mode brings it to an annoying level, I don't need to run cupra mode all the time, But i like to set the motor to cupra because i can shift manually without it going back to D after some seconds, while in comfort it goes back to automatic very fast, and ofc i also enjoy the "cupra" sound without the fake noise, otherwise i wouldn't get a cupra to begin with.

 

[Peyton]

The problem is if i set the sound in comfort flaps don't open and pops are gone , and even then under hard acceleration i still think there's some degree of soundaktor active there, sport brings it up and cupra mode brings it to an annoying level, I don't need to run cupra mode all the time, But i like to set the motor to cupra because i can shift manually without it going back to D after some seconds, while in comfort it goes back to automatic very fast, and ofc i also enjoy the "cupra" sound without the fake noise, otherwise i wouldn't get a cupra to begin with.

OBDEleven can apparently code out Soundaktor now, but I haven't bought it yet.

If/once I do I will probably connect it back but code it down to 0%.

 

[Deleted member 131219]

The problem is if i set the sound in comfort flaps don't open and pops are gone , and even then under hard acceleration i still think there's some degree of soundaktor active there, sport brings it up and cupra mode brings it to an annoying level, I don't need to run cupra mode all the time, But i like to set the motor to cupra because i can shift manually without it going back to D after some seconds, while in comfort it goes back to automatic very fast, and ofc i also enjoy the "cupra" sound without the fake noise, otherwise i wouldn't get a cupra to begin with.

I see what you mean.

 

[Deleted member 131219]

The problem is if i set the sound in comfort flaps don't open and pops are gone , and even then under hard acceleration i still think there's some degree of soundaktor active there, sport brings it up and cupra mode brings it to an annoying level, I don't need to run cupra mode all the time, But i like to set the motor to cupra because i can shift manually without it going back to D after some seconds, while in comfort it goes back to automatic very fast, and ofc i also enjoy the "cupra" sound without the fake noise, otherwise i wouldn't get a cupra to begin with.

On the point about manual shifting, you don;t need to be in Cupra profile to stop the gearbox reverting to auto. If you flick the selector from D to S before activating the paddle shifts, the box will then stay in manual regardless of what drive profile you're running.

 

[AndyCupra93]

On the point about manual shifting, you don;t need to be in Cupra profile to stop the gearbox reverting to auto. If you flick the selector from D to S before activating the paddle shifts, the box will then stay in manual regardless of what drive profile you're running.

I also have a feeling there’s a setting somewhere which allows you to hold onto gears when you go manual from D mode too…