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I have Magnaflow on my 68 Camaro 327 and like the sound, not too loud but the are getting louder over the years. I bought Borlas for my 383 Vette and as much as I like the sound of the Magnaflows these Borlas sound absolutely amazing. Nice deep rumble not ratty at all. I will be replacing my Camaro exhaust with these as well. Go to YouTube and listen to some.
I just removed the original exhaust on my one owner 75 coupe. Installed 2-1/4" pipes and magna flo mufflers. L48 never out of the car and probably a little tired although it runs very well. Magna flo mufflers sound great, although a little "boomy" at low speed in the cabin. Sound at anything over 2000 rpm is perfect. I suspect an L82 motor or later HiPo motor would be pretty loud.
on my 78 pace car with true duals, i used baffled pipes. the engine is a 383 stroker and the pipes are about as loud or a bit loader that oem side pipes without the muffler insert. i had borla mufflers on my 04 commemorative, 6 speed convertible and they had a really nice deep rumble at idle and weren't excessively loud cruising at high speed. i would suggest that you try to find a local show that might have a decent attendance of corvettes and talk to the folks there for their opinion (and perhaps an in person sound test).
Owning a 1988 C4 we understand the woes. Your system was not much different that what they did on my 1988 L98 engine. On C4's new owners have jumped right in removing the catalytic converters and replacing them with the test pipes and this makes the worlds worst DRONE that will drive you nuts. Even with an expensive exhaust system the drone can/will be there... We hear this on a pretty regular basis. In your search be sure they address the issue of running with a Drone at certain speeds.
On my C4 I bought a "Cat-Back" Chambered Exhaust System from now gone: Allen's Stainless Exhaust After that I ordered a new "High Flowing" Performance Catalytic Converter which I installed with the new Chambered Exhaust. The L98 doesn't impress anyone but it is a nice little engine. When the car was started up, it sounded so different, suddenly the Mouse roared like the Lion. This allowed my base C4 to cruise along back and forth on the interstate at ~60 mph with A/C and Bose Stereo getting just a hair over the 30 mpg mark. Both of my Corvettes have Chambered Exhaust on them and I love the sound either in a coupe or the convertible and neither has any drone.
It's your choice how you maintain your Corvette and it's emissions equipment. I have one of each. My C3 is an early Oct/67 Corvette and came with the A.I.R. being fed into the exhaust manifolds and a PCV on the valve cover. When I bought the car the AIR system was gone. All I have on the 427 is a PCV valve and I have my engine using a Holley EFI system.
My 1988 C4 is the a whole different way of doing things starting with the fully fuel injected engine. The suspension is much more like a race car and dramatically different than my C3. That beautiful Clam shell that opens up and gives you amazing access but you still have tight spots. It all boils down to the suspension and how the bushing are in the car. I spent many months replacing them with Polyurethane Bushings. It is "tighter" and still puts a smile on your face when you drive it hard very quickly.
I have the CC dual system on mine with 2 1/2" pipe & Magnaflows. Perfect fit & a nice sound...
