Active Sound

UK automotive tech manufacturer Milltek Innovations looks set to revolutionise the exhaust aftermarket for diesel, petrol AND electric cars with the introduction of its ‘Active Sound’ technology, which the company is currently performing final beta testing upon.

This exciting development is aimed at vehicles that don’t necessarily produce the most harmonious of exhaust tones as standard cars – or indeed, any exhaust note at all! Using cutting-edge carbon fibre speaker technology, housed in motorsport grade stainless steel housings, Milltek’s Active Noise Module wires directly into the vehicles ECU using ‘plug and play’ technology to create a direct, algorithmically calculated relationship between road speed, throttle position and a range of hyper-realistic generated exhaust noises. This will be a range of retro-fittable options for cars that were never available with this tech.

Unlike previous ‘internal-only’ systems that fire fake noise through the car speakers, this system generates simulated exhaust noise inside the exhaust system – exiting through a tailpipe, and giving the exact same soundtrack effect that only a real exhaust can give.

Some top-end car models already use this technology, factory-fitted. Milltek’s new system can also integrate fully with these models, allowing you to change the sounds the factory chose to add – to practically anything you want! What does this mean in the real world? Well, if your chosen transport is perhaps a diesel, a small displacement petrol, or even a hybrid or electric car, at the flick of a switch, you can apply a range of superb exhaust noises to your car that precisely match engine load, throttle position and road speed. Want your Audi SQ7 diesel to sound like a Maserati on the drive to work? No problem! Want it back in ‘sensible’ mode for the drive home. That’s just a screen tap away.

Using a free mobile phone app as a control module, Milltek’s Active Sound Solutions allow not only for a wide range of optional sounds to be applied to a chosen vehicle – but also for those sounds to be ‘tuned’, as you would the graphic equaliser on your home stereo. Not only can relative volumes be set, but also the overall tone and quality – as well as launch characteristics and type of note. Over time, Milltek will also make different sampled notes and tones available as optional downloads, so if you get bored of your current sound, simply download and try something new!