Engine sound at the flick of a switch

With Selected Sound®, HEICO SPORTIV is the first aftermarket tuner to offer a licensable system for individualizing a Volvo’s engine sound. Selected Sound® will initially be available for the Volvo XC60 T6 and new Volvo XC90 D5.

In the course of its downsizing strategy, the automotive industry is increasingly turning to smaller, more efficient engines. With its Volvo Engine Architecture (VEA) program, Volvo, too, has introduced a new generation for internal combustion and diesel engines, and will in future resort to turbocharged four-cylinder engines with a maximum of two liters cubic capacity. The upside of a smaller number of cylinders and better turbocharging is a cut in fuel consumption and weight. The downside, however, is mediocre sound quality and emotion – creating an entirely new market niche.

“A challenge we’re glad to take on,” says HEICO SPORTIV Managing Director, Holger Hedtke. “With Selected Sound® we’re the first aftermarket vendor to offer an optimally tuned solution for individualizing the engine sound and boosting emotionality.”

Selected Sound® is a technology that HEICO SPOPRTIV designed and developed for sport exhaust sytems, and which will initially go on sale for the Volvo XC60 and the new Volvo XC90. The principle is: the HEICO SPORTIV e.motion® control unit passes driving characteristic-relevant data such as speed, rpm, load status and accelerator position from the CAN-BUS directly to a sound processor. The sound processor is, in turn, is connected with a conventional HEICO SPORTIV stainless steel end muffler and – what’s new – one actuator. Finally, the actuator models the desired acoustic pattern.

Tribute to the Volvo XC90 V8

To generate an authentic sound, HEICO SPORTIV’s development team invested a great deal of precision work in the sound file. The result: Selected Sound® stimulates the senses and generates the unique sound backdrop of a high-volume 8-cylinder engine. A tribute to the Volvo XC90 V8. In doing so, the driver can choose between the series-produced sound or pure V8 ecstasy at any time. The system is enabled and disabled with the Start/Stop button.

That is not needed for everyday use, however. The intelligent HEICO SPORTIV e.motion® control unit automatically enables Selected Sound® for a few seconds when the engine is started, before switching it to standby mode. As soon as the Volvo starts moving, the system is enabled again. For longer ditances at speeds of between 50-65 km/h, the system reverts to standby – a legal requirement.  If the speed drops below 50 km/h or rises above 65 km/h, Selected Sound® is automatically enabled again.

Selected Sound® is compatible with the series-produced rear apron with trapezoid end pipes or, option-ally, with the HEICO SPORTIV rear apron and four end pipes. Selected Sound® will initially go on sale for the VEA T6 engine (XC60) respectively the VEA D5 engine (XC90), but further engine models (such as the D4/D5 AWD in the XC60 and T6 in the XC90) are planned for the mid-term. The systems come with an EC type approval. As the new control unit generation regulates all functions from a single control unit, Selected Sound® can be optionally combined with other HEICO SPORTIV products such as e.motion® performance enhancement, Speedpack and PowerSwitch.