My last bike was a Dyna Superglide with Sonic mufflers; loved the sound. The silencers, as far as I can tell, are the perforated type i.e. a tube with hundreds of round holes to absorb the sound. 

Mynew bike (2012 Road King) came with Sonic mufflers also but it sounded nowehere near as good. The mufflers have a removable louvered baffle i.e. a tube with hundreds of little punched louvers.

I've tried with and without the baffle and, although it sounds better without the baffle, it still doesn't have the sweet sound that my Dyna made.

Is it the muffler design or is it because the Road King's headers join into one chamber which contains the catalytic converter and C02 sensors ?

The late model Road King exhaust is essentially a two-into-one exhaust with two outlets; sort of like a car muffler with two tail pipes.

 

Any theories ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think it's those stupid sensors, getting mine opened permanently.

Sponge boy , I'll say be catalytic converter
I've gotta 2011 roadking and tried the VH Turndowns sounds better when cruising but when you open it up it sound to tinny

At the moment I've got a set of Rush Slipons on it , still breaking them in , sounds ok and torque wise seems ok
But I've got a set of CFR Slipons in a box waiting to go on

Cheers

I think also being two into one affects the tone.

 I agree, I thinkit's the 2 into 1 that affects the sound.

I asked Frank at Harley Heaven today about this; he says that the tourers have always sounded different to the other Harley models and that they don't have the same patata-patata sound. 

One of my mates has just purchased a FatBob which has a similar arrangement; he has fitted Vance and Hines slip ons. It will be interesting to hear how it sounds compared to another mate who has fitted radius headers and pipes.

 

I'll report back soon.

 

 

 

 

 I think you're wasting your money Bro; I don't think it will ever sound the same as  set of idividual pipes with a cross over tube.

 

 Tonight I discovered the best solution yet;

I took off my mufflers all together and fired her up. Took it for a spin throug the neighbourhood. Sounded heaps better and very similar to my Dyna with sonic mufflers.

Next, I need to find some chrome turn down exhaust tips with 1-3/4" inlet and 2" outlet and fit them on.

I'll then be shaving 10 kg off the wieght of my bike and getting a good sound too

 Baloffski,

Buddy, don't waste your time; sure, you'll get some more horsepower and it may sound a bit better but you'll never get that true Harley sound.

I'm going to wait till I've got some spare cash and then either get De Filipo to reconstruct the bottom end of my headers altogether or I'll buy a Cobra true duals headers and instal that, whichever is cheaper.

For now I've put my mufflers back on with reconstructed baffles; swapped the original Sonic louvered baffles with 2" perforated tube stainless tube from De Filipo.

Sounds better than befoe but I still can't handle it.

 

 

 De Filipo de exhausta man; as in De Filipo Performance Exhausts in Melton.

They specialise in performance exhausts. They made a set of custom headers for one of my mate's Dyna.

 

that potatoe potatoe sound is hard to get on any of the fuel injected harleys---Cant beat carbies for that sound. I had a set of 2-1's on my old fxr,s sounded great, had the same brand pipes on my 07 roadking sounde good but not as nice as the old girl

cheers Grim

I recon to get a pretty decent  sound you really need to get rid of the stock headers altogether ,Ive just ordered some V&N Duals from the states & will Ist try them with my sceaming eagle slip ons & see how that goes    cheers Rod