Anyone heard both the M4 and the Akrapovic Ti in person ?

[EZrider]

I currently have the M4 installed (with Q4/stage 2 baffle) and still find it a bit loud on long runs, especially on highways (but I don't ride with earplugs though and would prefer to keep it this way). 
 
Also, I prefer a deep or "throaty" tone rather than punchy or "raspy", as the M4 sounds when you open up the throttle.
 
I now know (after getting the M4) that I cannot base my judgement on youtube videos as no microphone can reproduce any exhaust sound accurately and give a good idea of how loud it really is.
 
After reading quite a few reviews, it does seem almost unanimous that the Akrapovic Ti is indeed one of the quietest aftermarket exhaust (baffle in that is), but is also one (if the not most) expensive exhaust for our FZ07's.
 
So if any of you had a chance to hear/ride both in real life, I would really like to hear your opinions!
How would you describe the difference regarding the tone ?
And if you also heard the Akra Ti baffle out, how would you compare the loudness of it VS the M4 (baffle out and/or in) ?
 
Before spending another 1000$+ on an exhaust , would prefer to have some comments first !
 

[yamahazaki]

If you don't live in pennsylvania, it will cost you a total of 916 bucks to get the akra ti from revzilla.

[CarGuy7a]

Well I've not heard the M4 personally but I do run the Akra Ti and I can tell you that it is not raspy by any means. Just a deep aggressive sound. See if you can find the video on youtube where they compare the sound between the Akra Carbon and Akra Ti. He records the audio with a Zoom H2N hand held recorder and I can tell you this recorder does an amazing job of capturing the true sound of exhaust sounds. I have one of these recorders myself and was amazed how good of a job it does capturing that deep true to life sound of the exhaust note. But I can tell you, the Akra Ti is still loud with the DB killer out causing me to wear earplugs, it is what it is and it's too quiet for me with the DB killer in. You can on the other hand mod the DB killers by cutting the tubes shorter and drilling holes to tune the sound to your liking.

[EZrider]

If you don't live in pennsylvania, it will cost you a total of 916 bucks to get the akra ti from revzilla.

Thanks, but I live in Canada, so with the exchange rate (+ especially the duty fees ;-| ) makes it more expensive than locally (+-1200$ CAD + taxes) Compare to a +- 550$-600$ M4, it's quite a bit more for something that I dont even know if i'll like more or less than my M4!
 
 

Posted by CarGuy7a
 
Well I've not heard the M4 personally but I do run the Akra Ti and I can tell you that it is not raspy by any means. Just a deep aggressive sound. See if you can find the video on youtube where they compare the sound between the Akra Carbon and Akra Ti. He records the audio with a Zoom H2N hand held recorder and I can tell you this recorder does an amazing job of capturing the true sound of exhaust sounds. I have one of these recorders myself and was amazed how good of a job it does capturing that deep true to life sound of the exhaust note. But I can tell you, the Akra Ti is still loud with the DB killer out causing me to wear earplugs, it is what it is and it's too quiet for me with the DB killer in. You can on the other hand mod the DB killers by cutting the tubes shorter and drilling holes to tune the sound to your liking.

Thanks CarGuy7a, 
I listened to a couple of videos recorded with an H2N and they sound surprisingly accurate! It seems like the M4 sounds much more like the Akra Carbon according to what I heard on those... And I liked what I heard from the Ti... and that fat tone with the baffle out ! 8-)
And yeah, I did saw a few videos with different db killer modding for the Ti, and it seems a pretty good way to try to balance out tone vs loudness.
 
 

[CarGuy7a]

You might try playing with modding the DB killer for that M4. I don't know what they look like but it may be possible to do something with it. Shorten it or drill more holes in it. Might be worth a shot before blowing a G on another exhaust.

[EZrider]

You might try playing with modding the DB killer for that M4. I don't know what they look like but it may be possible to do something with it. Shorten it or drill more holes in it. Might be worth a shot before blowing a G on another exhaust.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm actually looking for a sound a little bit quieter than the M4, so drilling more holes or cutting it would actually make it louder, and that thing is already loud enough (baffle out 108db, default baffle in 100db, stage 2 baffle 97db, thanks to ccmike in an other post for those infos).   
My thing with the M4 is that whether I have no db-k, stage 1 or stage 2 db-k, there is that tone around the 4000-4500 rpm that rattles my eardrum a bit (yeah, I have sensitive eardrums to some tones/frequencies, long story lol ...)
 
But yeah, like you mention, before blowing a $G on another exhaust, I wanna be sure of it, not guess like I did with the M4.
Not that I don't like the M4, but looking for something more "comfortable" to my ears.  If my visor is fully closed, it's great.  But as soon as I have it open, even barely, that tone gets into my ears after a while of riding at same speed/rpm's.
 

[CarGuy7a]

Oh I know what you mean, that constant drone is a killer but I don't think you'll find an aftermarket exhaust that doesn't have that other than the stock exhaust. It's just the nature of the beast. I just decided to wear earplugs and ride on. If I ride my FZ with the akra without earplugs my ears are ringing. On that note the Akra with the baffle in is pretty quiet. I'm not sure of the DB rating but it's significantly quieter than with it out. I actually find it quite comfortable to wear earplugs when I ride and I can actually hear my surroundings better than not wearing them. I use the surefire EP4's and they are very comfortable I can wear those things all day.

[EZrider]

That's exactly what I'm trying to find out (hence the title of my post) : Is it the M4 exhaust that sounds like that, or like you said, it's rather our beloved parallel twin that will have that drone sound with any aftermarket exhaust... Of course the best would be to find someone locally who already has an Akra Ti on his/her FZ07 that I could test myself to confirm if it would make a noticeable difference (baffle in) or not vs my M4, but since I'm still looking for that person, figured a post on this subject might be the 2nd best option
 
In the meantime, I think I might give those EP4 a try, surely much less expensive than Akra Ti... Thanks for your input!

[botticelli]

heard em both, they bot sounds mean, the Akra is more smooth and louder, the M4 has a deeper growl but does have some "whap brap" sounds when chopping throttle ans on quick opens.
 
If it was my money get the akra, that is what I did. YMMV

[EZrider]

You're saying the Akra Ti is louder ?? I presume this would be without their db-killers ?

[Beemer]

Since you were OK with the looks of the M4 have you considered the Akra carbon fiber? It's cheaper than the Ti, looks more like an M4 than a Ti does, it's quieter than an M4. I've had mine going on two years now and love it. It may not be quite as low a tone as a Ti but the difference is very slight and they both have that raspy sound when you throttle them, depending on how you listened to them. The hollow, droning sound only happens when you cruise at a certain rpm in a certain gear, the lower gears. The bike is quiet cruising in higher gears/speeds. Sound doesn't bother me at all. GL!

[EZrider]

Yeah, I did at some point consider the Carbon, but was soon out of the equation. Not that I dislike the looks of the M4 (or the Akra Carbon), but I prefer the cleaner look of the Ti that actually goes under the bike instead on the side of it. Also (and this may be a bit far fetched), but thinking about those careless cars that could hit a parked motorcycle... By having a side exhaust, if the bike is hit hard enough to fall down, the engine head could (indirectly) take a hit since the side exhaust would take the hit from the fall, as opposed to having an exhaust that is under the bike, then the exhaust (therefore the engine as well) would be spared in such situation as the frame slider would take the hit instead. Of course this is not the main reason I'm leaning towards the Ti, but is one of the +.
 
And sound-wise (although difficult to judge from videos depending on recording quality), the Akra Carbon sound seems closer to that of the M4, so I'm not sure I would notice that much of a difference between those two... But again, never heard one in person... And like you mentioned, Ti has a lower tone, and my ears are craving those lower tones...
 
But thanks for your input Beemer, much appreciated!
 

[rocky1247]

get the akra ti, 120% worth the price, baffle in or out. i ride with it out, and have yet to tune the bike, and its still amazing. the exh being under the bike finishes its lines quite perfectly.

 

 

 
gif hoster