Listen to Mike, he’s been doing this for a long time. Remus has zero drone. What he meant by “if the exhaust drones then the downpipe will amplify it” is some exhaust systems will drone with the factory downpipe. If you put a catless downpipe on that same exhaust system, then the hallow, large pipe that is a catless downpipe creates space for more resonance, amplifying the drone sound in cabin. No downpipe will fix an exhaust system that already drones.
As far as the DS-1, I never had exhaust smell. It scrubbed the smell great. The catless was a noticeable smell, but for some people including myself it’s not a bother. Others like my wife find the smell to be nauseating.
As far as the welds, the connections that are held on with clamps were welded (with the exception of the clamp at the downpipe/turbo connection.
As far as sound between the catless and DS-1, both isle super quiet as mentioned before (engine is heard over exhaust at idle), but as the RPMs build the catless is noticeably louder (this would include the cold start). WOT is the same thing: Catless is much louder than catted, but both sound great with the resonated midpipe and Remus exhaust. Personal preference for a balanced, louder system is the resonated midpipe with DS-1. Much louder than factory where you want it without being too loud, no drone, and an exhaust system that retains the valve control (because sometimes cruising in comfort with a quiet cabin is soothing).
I think in total with the lift was about 2 hours for install, taking my time. Future exhaust drops for the downpipe swap I did in about 45 minutes (got the hang of things after a few removals when I found oil leak at turbo). First suggestion is remove the intake box in the engine bay. You can reach down and undo the clamp on the turbo/downpipe from there, as well as the 2 bolts that hold the downpipe in place. You have to disconnect the O2 sensors anyways before dropping the downpipe so you’ll already be in the engine bay. NOTE: the O2 clips are held in place with hidden clips. A flat head on the underside will push the clip to the side so the clip can slide off the rail. Those are things I didn’t include in my Remus install guide because that’s more for the downpipe install.
Here’s my detailed Remus exhaust install guide. Hope it helps give you an idea for the install process:
https://www.2addicts.com/forums/show....php?t=1360037