"From the pictures I saw, it looks like there is no muffler just before the tips. Why did you opt for this design when it seems like the other R56 options all have the chambered muffler just before the tips?"

- That is correct. The muffler is not located just before the tips. It is in fact located within the narrow rear exhaust tunnel of the car. I too have seen that most other manufacturers retain the chambered muffler location just the same as the stock location. I personally was responsible for the development of this system. What I found, after creating over ten prototype systems, was that the placement of the muffler alone will drastically affect the tone for the Mini. Increasing the tubing diameter and maintaining the stock muffler location resulted in drone, as well as sounding like a vacuum cleaner. I tried multiple variations on the mufflers themselves, to no avail. What I did find, was a slim profile muffler, done further forward than the stock position, resulted in a wonderful tone and knocked the drone out of the way. Rather than 'just doing what everyone else was doing', we went with what worked. In summary? The muffler has been moved to a more optimum location.

"The second cat is removed, correct? So the larger section of the piping is a resonator?"

- The secondary catalytic converter is removed, that is correct. It opens everything up for better flow. The larger section of tubing you see is the muffler itself.

In regard to it's inherent volume level, and drone, and related concerns:
-It's definitely louder than stock. I think it sounds absolutely great! Of course, I would. But here is the honest thought process: The MkI Mini,with the supercharger, had a very sporty, zippy, fun sound to it. It had some 'soul' if you will. My first drive in that car was all smiles through every gear- when I hit 6th, I was like "aww..." and slowed down, just to shift all over again because the sound was fun. The MkII as stock, did not have that same feel to me. The car was without a doubt much faster, but just lacked 'character' in a sense. So our goal was to dig out the 'soul' buried within that car.
See, anything that moves with a pattern creates a noise. Engines at certain rpm's will create a tone regardless of the exhaust note sound. It is the actual frequency at which the cylinders fire. That is why people can identify an engine's number of cylinders just by listening- they have unique tones. Now, this is also why there is drone: 'drone' is actually just a frequency range that is irritable to the human ear because it creates the feeling of 'pressure'. Every engine exhibits it. In fact, the sound range is from about 94-130hz. That means that 4 cylinders drone from about 2800-3800rpm. The Mini, however, avoids that range pretty well. That's around the area where the turbo really begins to pull, so that very much helps. The physical location of the muffler on our system combats that drone further. Is there drone? Only in a minimal range that is hard to recreate in any driving scenario. The car is actually pretty quiet cruising at highway speeds.
The second-to-last prototype I made, I think was actually the most fun sounding... But that... was definitely LOUD. Drone was not an issue. So I reduced the volume output of the car to what you hear now. You can hear on our little youtube clip that the car has a throaty idle, some burble, and a good 'brap' as it gets going. Believe me, it sounds even better as you pull higher through the revs. It's just tough to do a good 3rd gear pull in our parking lot, haha.
It passes "the wife test". One of the owners here had his wife take the car for a week of daily driving. No complaints! That's a very good sign to us, because we love the sound. Drive it casually, regularly, and the sound is there, but absolutely not intrusive at all. Get on it, and you're reminded that you're driving a sports car. You cannot help but smile when you hit the right pedal hard!

The end result? It's got soul now. Every time I drive that car, I just want to drive it more. That is a great feeling.

Really though, I love the car, and just couldn't believe the boring, drone-y, obnoxious exhausts that were available. I mean, watch our youtube clip, then browse the other mini exhausts.. then listen to ours again. I was determined to get a mean sound when you want it, and still be clean and polite otherwise. I feel that mission is accomplished.

It's our annual holiday sale and it's the biggest and best. 20% STOREWIDE. And this week we are giving away a Wii Console and WiiFit bundle. An example of the savings.

New Stratmosphere Mk2 Catback Exhaust. Intro priced $649 now $519.20!