NVH Reduction for your car. Acoustic System International Profesional Resonator.

The regular resonator cups for home hifi.

Franck Tchang wanted me to test drive(literally) his latest resonator cups, during our little friendly chat over a cuppa at the KLIAV Show, I agreed, even if I don't quite fully comprehend how, what and where he meant for these little cups called resonators to work.

Since many have tried and were so impressed with the effects of the resonators in their hifi den, that CMY, the local distributor sold out all of their stock briefly, even the ones in the show rooms are taken! They obviously struck a chord with the local hifi buyers. Fret not, CMY told me they have recently re-stocked and the cups are available again. Along with the other standard cups meant for hifi room use, there's another one made for the car environment! Ding! Now it dawned on me what Franck meant when he wanted me to test drive his latest resonator cups!

The Professional resonator cups for your car.

In car speak, NVH, i.e. Noise, Vibration, Harshness is an indicator to a vehicle's refinement qualities whilst on the move. Franck's little cup, only one needs to be used, and when used in the car, will bring down the first most important factor of NVH, a.k.a. Noise. In a moving vehicle, various source for noises(like wind, tyre, engine and suspension plus outside elements) will surface and become increasingly noticeable as we drive faster. So here I am being given this little cup for a test drive, did the most natural thing, drive around with the cup attached on the center console of my 2002 Nissan A33 2.0G Cefiro.

A pic of my humble chariot!

I take reasonably good care of the car, with scheduled maintenance performed regularly through out the last 7 years it has been on the road. Over the years, as the rubber surrounds on the doors, windshield, bonnet and trunk starts to harden, wind, engine, suspension, tyre and general road noise starts to creep up by the day, ever so slightly, it's barely notice able. Recently, a rear door rubber seal had to be replaced because it was very slightly torn, but when travelling at 80km/h onwards, wind noise sipping in to the other wise quiet interior, starts to become distracting, and very unsettling, as it always made me feel like as if my kids didn't properly shut the door closed. I'd constantly look over my shoulder to check if the door is properly shut closed! My paranoia was gone with the torn rubber door seal replaced. I write this to tell you about my paranoia for noises in the car too! And how a car ages by the day without you ever noticing one bit, hence the itch for driving a new car surfaces once every few years! It happens to all of us. He!He!

John of CMY said the most effective resonator cup position he tried on his car was smack in the center console, just behind the gear shift. Not one whom just follows blindly, I experiment by sticking the resonator cup on top of the dash center, just in front of the center dash air-cond vents, and finally settling for the very same position John used so effectively. Also note that the resonator cup is directional and one should always refer to the instruction manual on the issue prior to instalation.

The final installed position in the car, with a little help from Blu Tack! Also note cup surface direction, see the 4 little wings, the smallest surface in between the wings face front towards wind shield.

With the resonator cup stuck on to the center console, just behind the gear shift, I allowed a full day for the resonator to settle in to the vehicle environment. At first few hours of driving around with the resonator cup in the car, made me felt a little sea sick like! Even one of my rear passengers complained of similar symptoms(he did not know about the cup's existence)! So I left the car parked over night, and returned to drive as usual the next day. This time round, as the resonator equalizes within the car's interior environment pressure, everything felt fine. In fact, I begin to notice that I was driving in a quieter car! Road and tyre noise became slightly more subdued. When driving past 60km/h usually wind noise starts to build up, but the interior remained virtually wind noise free for up to about 90km/h.

I took this from another review of the resonator cups inside some body's car. It could work this way too! Try it out.

However, I as I took a day trip to Batu Pahat for work purposes, that's when the resonator cup gave it's full potential, the highway road noise, especially the concrete sections seemed subjectively muted compared than before, and at 120km/h, wind noise remained muted. It's only when past that point, wind noise started to become noticeable again.

One of the un expected by product of having the resonator cup in the car was that, the car stereo seem more intelligible, especially when listening to news broadcast on FM radio. My car stereo is custom ed installed and highly modified, and will do some level of staging and imaging portrayed on the front wind shield, courtesy of the speaker time correction option available on the Alpine CDA-7998R head unit. Whilst the resonator cup was in my car, I enjoyed more focused imaging qualities when playing my favorite CDs in the car. Bass also seemingly became more hard hitting, especially the kick drums.

For those curious about my car audio install, here is the list of equipment and treatments installed on board.

Head Unit - Alpine CDA-7998R

CD Changer - Alpine CDC-624

Pre amp - Zelos Audio Tube 7 modified with 12AT7 tubes and supplied Alps volume removed for fixed output.

Power Amps - Sony SD-46X, SD-22X modified with beefed up power supply caps by 5X capacity and direct bypass circuit.

Speakers - Focal KP162 2 way component set.

Subs - CDT MS100, 1 pair in custom built AP enclosure, based on theories inspired by ECA's AudioNutz article of the subject matter.

Cables, VDH D102 MKIII, VDH D300 MKII, JPS Labs Ultra Conductor, QED Silver Anniversary.

All equipments are enhanced with X-2 Caps power supply of appropriate value.

Interior damping treatment products used, Dynamat Extreme for front doors and rear parcel shelf and Brownbread for other general areas.

I put up my car audio system in the article, so that you know, I ain't talking about the plain Jane OEM stuff. It's a serious enthusiast system.

If you've got a custom installed audio system in your car, the resonator cup does help to improve the sound quality as well.

What's the price for the improvement, you asked?

It's RM$1.4K for each Acoustic System International Professional Resonator Cup(Silver). One is all you need, that's the good news!

Acoustic System International Resonator Cups sold by CMY, contact John, tel: 03-2143 9406.