Sound check – The Sound Symposer
Automotive manufacturers have been fiddling with the way their products sound, both on the outside and on the inside, for a few decades now. This practice might be a bit better known in regards to motorbikes, but it is not strange to cars either.
In recent times, BMW has employed an actual digital sound file, sound inspected and digitally perfected, to offer the M5 owners what they consider to be the proper sense of aggressiveness when driving at pace.
Porsche as well did something similar, however they went with a more old-school option, employing a sound symposer in order to feed the growl of the 911′s flat-six into the cabin.
What is a sound symposer, you might ask?
A sound symposer is a diaphragm that is electrically controlled which is placed in a specially tuned sound tube meant to funnel the proper engine noises into the passenger compartment. The electrical component of the diaphragm means that it is opened and closed by the vehicle’s on-board electronics so that you can basically turn the engine snarl off and on, at the push of a button.
For some this might sound as a bit of a gimmick, and as far as performance goes, it is, but driving a car for many of us is much more than just using it as a means of transportation.
Actually the sound symposer technology has been on the minds of other car manufacturers as well, a former GM employee mentioned that he wanted for the system to be installed in Cadillacs, but the financial part of GM shot that idea down because of costs – we are aware that GM has been going through a lot of financial hardships in the past few years.
However it would appear that it is not too expensive for Ford, considering that they have added the sound symposer technology to their upcoming Fiesta ST model.
