enny Price has always had an eye for what looks good. His Samson pipes, some of the best-selling and most popular exhausts on the market, are proof of that. Well, it turns out Kenny also has an ear for what sounds good, and it isn’t just noise. It’s Sound vs. Noise, and it’s become a major issue in the biker world. Sound is good, noise is bad and Samson is doing something about it right now. It starts with the “db killers,” a whole new line of Samson baffles and noise suppressors. They’ll soon be incorporated throughout the lineup.
     Killing noise without losing tone isn’t easy. For decades Samson has been known for that deep, ballsy rumble and bark we all love. Well, with the “db killers” all that’s still there. It’s just been sweetened up a notch or two, the deep tones enhanced and the annoying high-pitched noise eliminated. It’s a new sound for today that makes sense while still making power and sounding powerful. There’s a big difference between all that and a set of pipes that are just loud.
     It took some work to arrive at this happy medium of sound vs. noise, and of course the design techs and product engineers at Samson used all of the latest and greatest digital sound meters and testing equipment in their quest. They also employed a healthy dose of plain old common sense. For example, Kenny Price and his team would stand directly behind a bike running a new baffle system under development and just listen to the idle. They wanted that signature Samson tone, deep and throaty, but they had to be able to hold a normal conversation at the back of that bike, too, without raising their voices. Proper baffling can make this happen and passing this first test was mandatory for any new baffle design, and that was just the start of the real-world evaluation.
     The Samson development team carefully listened to the bike and its pipes as it rolled down the street, much as it would anywhere, anytime. Once again the goal was that deep exhaust tone but minus any raspy or tinny high-pitched notes. Metered testing had determined that it’s those high-pitched sound waves that travel the longest and annoy the most. A deep, low-pitch tone not only sounds better, it dissipates quickly and isn’t at all annoying. To prove this out they’d take that bike to a crowded location like the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant at lunchtime where they’d rev the motor looking for a reaction. What they wanted to see was a slow head turn, not a startled reaction as people jumped out of their skin. A startled reaction meant a trip back to the shop; the sound pitch had to be made quieter and deeper. They’d run the highways at cruising speeds, too, all the while measuring and evaluating the sound from a pace car alongside and a few lengths back. Here again those sought after deep, throaty sound waves would die out fast and the bike could barely be heard a few car lengths back. Perfect. By totally eliminating the high pitch of a V-twin’s exhaust note Samson had just eliminated the annoyance factor for the majority of those who don’t ride bikes and hate their noise. All that’s left is a deep, throaty sound and that’s not noise, that’s music. The “db killers” do it, they’re coming and only Samson has them.