It would be nice to not have to worry about noise, however I, and the other modelers on here who live in more populated areas of the country, would like to see the engine mfg's put a little more engineering effort into a engine/muffler system that is designed to work together for optimum performance with minimum noise emission.
Mufflers have most always been an after-thought when making an engine decision, and if they're not properly tuned, they can and DO cause significant power loss from the engine mfg's claim.
I'd like to see more engine mfg's give some RPM and Db figures with different available muffler and prop options so we could more easily choose a power package that would conform to our local requirements.
I fly at a field that has a 101 db limit. The measurement is taken 9' from all sides of the model setting on a wooden table at wide open carb. then averaged to give the level.
This gives a whole new element of challenge to my purchase decisions when I consider a larger model.
Barry