Exhaust on the new car(AU Ghia) has s**t itself and it's driving me mad so I figure its a good opportunity to get it replaced. Sorry for asking about this im sure its been covered but there is no sticky and I couldn't find it in search.

I want to know what everyone recommends with the best tone possible and a nice burble on idle but not excessive drone(i realise im going to get abit of drone but at least liveable). I am pretty dead-set on Pacemaker Tri-Y's with 2 metal high flow cats. From here is gets tricky. One exhaust place said two 2.25" pipes into a single 2.5". He assured me it will still sound good(not droney and crap) as this is a priority (main reason for buying the 8) and be the best performing street setup.

Another guy I asked said it would probably be abit too quiet and recommended they do a "collector"??? after the cats and run a single 3" all the way to the rear. He said it will drone slightly but will be the best sounding setup.

All you guys have a fair bit of non biased experience so I would like to know what you think is the best setup?

I'd use twin 2 1/4" all the way but muffler choice has a lot to do with it.

a dual will drone less and be more burbly and a single will sound more like a late model v8 but drone more expecially if you only fit one muffler, but may be too quiet with 2 mufflers
I have a single 2.5 with just a hotdog and its mildly loud and drones a little
with the rear resinator it was stock sounding, but i want louder so i'm going dual 2.25 or 2.5 all the way with a single muffler on each side with std xr extractors and cats. not worth the cost to replace on a stock engine

Have you had a chance to listen to the exhaust notes of other AU's at all?
Sometimes listening to a system can give you a better starting point when deciding on something as personally unique as your choice of sound.
I myself believe a 3" is too big for a standard motor and would need some artful arrangement of muffler / resi to cease its droning. A single 2½" would be good for a 5L and with metal cats and muffler you would have a good sound for a stock motor.

Thanks for your help guys. I decided to go with the 2 x 2.25" into 2.5". The exhaust guy(Chris from Best Mufflers) seems to know what he's talking about and is highly regarded from what I can gather. Booked it in for next Wednesday. I'll put up a clip once it's run in so we can see how it sounds.

Should have went twin 2.25" all the way, only reason he wants single through the rear is coz its easier and cheaper for him to do that.
Will still give you what you want in sound and peformance though, so cant complain.

i recently upgraded (partially) the exhaust on my NF 5lt at Liverpool Exhaust, they said 3" was the best option as it came std with 2.5! so i hope yours works out, mine is 3" cat back but i left the stock tailpipe as it was pretty new, sounds nice and throaty, but they'll never sound like an old school V8, i reckon i'll get the rest done shortly and stop being a tight a***.

You would think experienced exhaust shops would give out "factual" information not loads of crap

Mine is 2.5" into the cats, then 2x 2.25" all the way to the tips No drone, sounds crisp.

You must have a reasonator up back,i didnt have a reasy for 2 days and couldnt put up with the drone whent back in put the reasy in all is fine slight drone, all depends what mufflers your putting on