I think this subject has kind of been beat to death in past threads, but anyways, my opinion is that stromung sounds more manly than pretty much any other axleback. This is not to say that it is more loud than the others, but most loud mufflers do not sound as deep.

It works great with my NA car, and is said to work particularly great (more measurable power) if you decide to add some aftermarket headers/cat such as an MRT setup down the line.

jonathan

 

I have a friend with the stromung/MRT setup, and it sounds pretty good. According to him, the MRT actually kinda smoothed out the sound of the stromung. Perhaps the one you heard was a non-resonated MRT setup (they come either resonated or not). I did hear some sound clips of the stromung with borla headers and it sounded like a friggen beast, but a high pitched (ricey), and too much sound overall. You can find some stromung sound clips at scoobymods somewhere... I think in the GC8 impreza section.

By the way N/A Beast, which headers are you going for?

jonathan

 

..

 

The MRTs are strictly for power gains, and they're good at it. The equal length headers don't sound as good as Borlas though, because of the design. The different runner lengths are part of wehre the 'burbliness' of a boxer engine comes from. Basically the ones with the best sound aren't going to make the most power and vice-versa. However, they all help in both areas, so just go with what you really think you want. Some people have reported problemds with Borlas, but mostly from the older gens, and hey, what do you want for $300 shipped? Not as high-flow as MRT, Brullen, or the TWEs that are coming out soon, but those are more expensive too.

As Mike Shields says, when tuning a Subaru, think Porsche, not Honda. Generally speaking, the more a part costs, the better it performs for our cars.

 

Complete MRT setup is only around $700, so take that into consideration. If you really want to spend lots of money though, go with Borlas or TWEs and spring for a turbo kit. Any of the others wouldn't be compatible with a turbo. There is, however, a supercharger kit coming online pretty soon that would work with any header system and makes as much power as a stage II turbo.

 

I think you need to go see an audiologist, to check your hearing. I personally have a Borla Header, Random Tech High Flow Cat, and Stainless Catback by Stromung, and it is DEEP.

My exhaust is an alarm trippin', BASS sounding monster. It's one of the louder exhaust system setups on the market, and does NOT sound at all 'ricey'. When idling, it sounds pretty much like a rally car, and when taking off, it gets loud. WOT makes plenty of sound, and the performance gains are measurable by the butt dyno!!

 

FWIW, those clips of the Blue RS with the Borlas, Stromung, Blitz, Random Tech cat et. al. are not real good quality recordings... they don't have the bass you'd get by actually being there... tone is right, but the overall effect is dramatically reduced. They are much more awesomer in person.