how does the cylinder architecture of an engine affect its sound?

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I find the technical aspects of engines, especially car engines, fascinating, but don’t know much about them. I know the basic principles of an internal combustion engine and that’s about it.

But when I listen to different cars, there seem to be typical sounds for different engines: V8 cars, like the Boss 429 Mustang or Alfa Romeo Montreal, tend to have this deep thundering sound with the cool “stutter” while idling. Cars with V6 engines, like the AMG C43 or Audi S4 (to me) have a more aggressive humming sound, while cars with V10 (e.g. the Huracan) seem to have a more high-pitched screeching sound. Is the cylinder architecture the reason for that or is it something else that affects the sound? Or is my perception just off and the engine type has no correlation to sound?

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3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

So the biggest thing that you might not think of is the exhaust system. Physically each piston is a different distance from the tail pipe. So if the exhaust pipes were straight lines you would get a lot of noise (turbulent uneven bursts).

If you’ve ever seen a photo of exhaust systems and see the pipes in all kinds of weird bends it’s because they’re trying to make them equal in length to make it quieter.

You can tweak those lengths to get the sound you want.

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