Subject: Can we really keep both your hearing and your flying field?

You have read over the years statements in ads that say "save your field" or guarantied to meet the 90 dB at 9 ft. You've also learned by now that those were just self proclaimed, self-serving statements that turned out to be bogus.

People have tried to tell you that a coat of paint on a $2.00 lawn mower muffler was all you needed or that some rubber ducky or other little metal gizmo hung on the back of your muffler would do it. Oh and let's not forget the "one size fits all," as if these things were like a pair of stretch socks.

Remember the old adage? "When something sounds too good to be true it usually is". There's another one that goes "when you get something for nothing, that's about what its worth". The perfect example of this is the muffler that came with your new engine. They may make great engines but does that mean they make great mufflers. We are the largest providers of effective model engine exhaust systems in the world today and you can take that to the bank. Lets look at what we have become accustomed to hearing. First, you have the comment by the modeler after he fires up his engine on that after market muffling wonder. WOW!! That's a real noisy sucker, but it fits so well. Then you have what could be called casually quiet "I think its making less noise then it use to, hmm". Next, you have what is called seriously quiet "Is that whirring noise I'm hearing the valve lifters?" Followed by unbelievably quiet or as commented on by fellow modelers watching you approach on final yelling "dead stick" while your motor is happily purring away? Sound Master mufflers are the latter type and guess what, they're manufactured in the good old US of A. They're simply the best money can buy. Who do you wonder are the people in the know that have said so? Former AMA sound committee chairman, Howard Crispin (deceased) Clarence Lee, Don Low, Duke Heckle IMAA VP and every one of our customers. We are all aware of air pollution but most of us are just now learning about noise pollution. Air pollution, as we know will damage our respiratory system and noise pollution will damage our auditory system. Remember neighbors are not the only ones bothered by loud noise. Those two things on either side of your head called ears are. Remember, your ears are closer than 9 feet from the engines exhaust when you're running it up. I doubt any of you out there would be very happy if every time you got into your car you had to listen to some ear splitting noise from the engine. Then why do you suppose we tolerate such ungodly noise from our model engines? Now this isn't to say that some foreign engine arriving on these shores don't come with any means of sound reduction. Some have stuck a washer in their mufflers to reduce the noise somewhat. However they do so at the expense of power and are usually removed by the modeler who seeks the power he has come to expect.

Muffler by definition (to muffle) to lesson, reduce, quiet, subdue, suppress, curb, hush, mute, quell or to just plain tone the damn thing down. There are many things called by that much maligned word "muffler", but only SoundMaster and a few others live up to the promise. All one has to do to become a believer is to listen to a real muffler in action. Oh and they're all available from American companies, Nespah, K&B as on the Sportster engine series, Fox as in their Quiet muffler. All the others are just plain smoke and noise. Alternatively, they are gas diverters (to divert) redirect, turn, skew. They do have a few attributes, they are small so that they fit in very small places and they are usually cheap since there is precious little to them they don't cost much to produce.

Bob Davis

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