Soundaktor hate

[euroadb]

Normally this sort of this would bug the crap out of me because it's a completely artificial noise-maker and I think that's what bothers most people about this. It's a little embarrassing to show people your new car with a sport mode option, have them ask if it opens up an exhaust valve, and have to tell them you only have a fake noise-maker under the hood. But I'm keeping my car stock for the immediate future so a little artificial go-fast noise doesn't bother me too much. Once I get an OBD11 I certainly want to tone it down a bit though. I think a little bit of artificial noise wouldn't hurt to complement the car's turbo spooling. Can you adjust the volume in normal and sport mode individually?

 

[\w/]

Don't extra vibrations make the car squeaky over time?

 

[GTIJeff]

People should understand that it is not a speaker pumping in noise artificially...it is transmitting low level vibrations...from your engine...its not playing a race car track and pumping it into your cabin. They made the cabin as quiet as possible and also put in the option to be able to hear a lot of the noise they took out if someone felt so inclined.

 

[ElectricEye]

I have no idea what the soundaktor is set at on my MK7, but compared to my former MK6 it seems much lower.
The MK6 had this low end rumble that I was very noticeable. I really liked it, and was a bit disappointed to learn that what I was hearing was er... enhanced.
I thought about unplugging it initially, but then I thought - "Why?"
No one was ever in the car but myself, my kids, and occasionally my wife - so no judgemental people telling me "your sound is fake.'
I liked the sound, so why would I give it up?
Anyway, aside from the MK7 being a more quiet car overall - the soundaktor seems turned down by comparison.

 

[Sandman GTI]

People should understand that it is not a speaker pumping in noise artificially...it is transmitting low level vibrations...from your engine...its not playing a race car track and pumping it into your cabin. They made the cabin as quiet as possible and also put in the option to be able to hear a lot of the noise they took out if someone felt so inclined.

Not transmitting from the engine.
It is a disk unit that generates vibrations.
Being mounted to the firewall, it uses it to generate the sound.
No connection to engine other than timing when it vibrates.

 

[ElectricEye]

People should understand that it is not a speaker pumping in noise artificially...it is transmitting low level vibrations...from your engine...its not playing a race car track and pumping it into your cabin. They made the cabin as quiet as possible and also put in the option to be able to hear a lot of the noise they took out if someone felt so inclined.

I did a lot of searching around to figure out what this thing is.
I initially though it was a rattler. Like the vibration maker on a cel phone.
That's pretty lame.
Then, Car and Driver did an article on these things - including Porsches & BMW's where they claimed that VW's played a track - BMW's does.
But the C&D article was a bit mixed up, and they got some things wrong.
Near as I can tell, this is a piezoelectric speaker.
The speaker is transmitting your own engine noise to you via your windshield. Sound that is otherwise filtered out due to the refinement of the car.
There is a video on youtube of a guy using a soundaktor as a speaker to transmit stereo music onto a wall and other surfaces.

 

[euroadb]

Don't extra vibrations make the car squeaky over time?

I don't think that the small amount of vibrations the soundaktor generates would amount to anything compared to what the car is actually going through while driving.

People should understand that it is not a speaker pumping in noise artificially...it is transmitting low level vibrations...from your engine...its not playing a race car track and pumping it into your cabin. They made the cabin as quiet as possible and also put in the option to be able to hear a lot of the noise they took out if someone felt so inclined.

Not transmitting from the engine.
It is a disk unit that generates vibrations.
Being mounted to the firewall, it uses it to generate the sound.
No connection to engine other than timing when it vibrates.

So is it actually transmitting REAL engine noise, or is it just generating its own noise based on the timing of the engine? Because the former would be much cooler than the latter, but something about it still sounds a bit artificial to me. I doubt my nippy little 4 cyl turbo is capable of making those low grumbly noises all on its own.

 

[Damosapiens]

I used my ODBELEVEN to turn the volume down completely. Can you tell me how to set the volumes individually for each mode?



I'd love to have mine at 50% for Sport mode on the GTI.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2mzzKIEGkMo

You can put what percentage you want, by doing it this way.

To do it for individual modes, select your mode first, then select what percentage you want.

 

[\w/]

I don't think that the small amount of vibrations the soundaktor generates would amount to anything compared to what the car is actually going through while driving.

I know that cranking up bass constantly makes your car rattle over time, if you think about it, additional constant vibration will make all parts that are "tight" become more lose over time, especially in the cabin.

 

[ElectricEye]

Youtube Search: VW Soundaktor as speaker/transducer
(sorry for the lack of a direct link)

It seams as though it plays your own engines sounds using your firewall and or windshield as the speaker element.

 

[Zoolook]

They made the cabin as quiet as possible and also put in the option to be able to hear a lot of the noise they took out if someone felt so inclined.

Er... no. You can't remove the sound if you're so inclined without manually unplugging it, or buying software to get access to hidden menus.

I initially had my car constantly on 'individual' so the engine was not in sports mode as lowers the sound a little but not enough. So I unplugged it.

It would cost VW nothing to allow the driver to completely turn it off... and yet...

 

[euroadb]

Youtube Search: VW Soundaktor as speaker/transducer
(sorry for the lack of a direct link)

It seams as though it plays your own engines sounds using your firewall and or windshield as the speaker element.

https://youtu.be/VnpiW0V3l1g

That's interesting. So is the attached wire simply supplying power to the soundaktor to enable it to work, and the soundaktor is enhancing/reverberating the sound on its own? Or is the soundaktor acting as sort of a microphone, and transmitting "audio" back to an external audio amplifier via the attached wire?

 

[Zoolook]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2mzzKIEGkMo

You can put what percentage you want, by doing it this way.

To do it for individual modes, select your mode first, then select what percentage you want.

That's sweet - I wish they did it for iOS but it's only Android.

 

[GTIJeff]

Um...where did I say you can completely turn it off? Is today opposite day? You quoted and bolded what I said...and still misunderstood the words?

 

[ElectricEye]

https://youtu.be/VnpiW0V3l1g

That's interesting. So is the attached wire simply supplying power to the soundaktor to enable it to work, and the soundaktor is enhancing/reverberating the sound on its own? Or is the soundaktor acting as sort of a microphone, and transmitting "audio" back to an external audio amplifier via the attached wire?

I don't know.
I think the soundaktor acts as a mic, like a guitar pickup - and transmits the engine sound to the firewall and windshield which then act as a speaker.