I tend to use the "2 into 1 " set-up these days, I like the torque and the sound, way more mellow.

If you run true duals with no cross-over or "balance tube", be prepared for a harmonic resonance and a "rapp" which will "ring your bell" at certain RPMs. As luck has it, that drone comes in right at the freeway speed you drive, making this type of exhaust system hard to live with.
DD

i thought that complete split sistems had more torque! why it ain't so?
Doc has a point on the highway speed harmonic MKGRRRRRMRMRMRMRR luckyly for me (or should I say my ex shop guy is a genie) this happens in the 50-60 speed range, after that point (my real cruise speed, like 70-80) my duals produces LESS noise than my stock system at that speed.

I'd love to hear the explanation about the torque thingy. Thanks. Juan

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Juan Ignacio Caino

Please use e-mail button istead of PM'ing. I do log in sometimes but I'll be answering quicker thru e-mail.

Slantsixdan is right. Got it that way on my 63 Dart cv. Gooood! Price was reasonable too, that was 14 yrs ago though.

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ifyoubegintothinkyou'relosingcontrol...it'salreadygone

It's to do with relative negative pressure pulses in the one pipe helping to scavenge via the other pipe, IF you have a balance tube in place. Not sure whether a balance tube and twin mufflers is better than no balance tube and one muffler or the other way around, or if both are equally good. One procedure for optimizing placement of the balance pipe is to apply a heat-indicating material to the pipes, run the engine and find the hottest spot downstream of the manifold outlets, then put the balance pipe there.

Also note that a V8 engine needs a balance pipe a lot more than an inline 6, because of the exhaust pulse timing. A V8 does exhaust "paradiddles" (know your drum rhythms?) such that exhaust pulses from two cylinders on the same bank hit at almost the same time, momentarily increasing backpressure, while over on the other bank at the same time there's no pressure pulse. With an inline 6 using a front-3/rear-3 split exhaust manifold or header, on the other hand, the pressure pulses alternate front/back/front/back/front/back, so the "two-pulse" situation doesn't exist.

Nevertheless, balance pipes effectively increase the scavenging capacity of the system and they do greatly reduce system noise, especially the drones/booms/rrraps. Depending on your taste, that may be a good or a bad thing. Some engine/muffler/exhaust combinations sound awful; some sound great.

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"Never miss a good opportunity to keep your mouth shut" Will Rogers.

Loud ones are fun for a week. The best strategy I've found for a combination of sufficiently free flow with sufficient control of noise across the whole RPM range is to use a stock-type muffler, but for a bigger engine. For instance, 273/318 or 340/360 mufflers on a car with a slant-6.

I ran a single Magnaflo with single exhaust on my '62 for awhile. It made a really nice "rrrrrap!" sound when revving in Neutral or winding up through the gears, but had the kind of drone Doc talks about in this thread: VOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM from 54 through 68 mph. I could've lived with it at just about any other speed. Adding a resonator didn't sufficiently cull it, so I went to a stock 318 muffler. Lost the nice "rrrrap" but also lost the annoying drone on the highway.

Many of the "turbo" mufflers sound yucky at one speed or another, in one way or another. But I haven't tried 'em all, so maybe you'll get some specific recommendations here.

My aspen has a v8 muffler. It is nice!
Not loud, but you can hear your engine...