Exhaust selection advice

Steve’s bike and mine sound quite similar, both very tolerable and civil at cruising and both howl nicely at full power. They have nearly identical tonality and volume (they’re very similar exhausts).

The TORs are a very nice pitch and volume all around. I reckon a set TORs attached to a Paul header and cross over would sound really really good.
 

Mike,
My CES are just a tad louder than Rob's, likely due to his different can.
CES are NOT loud until you grease the wick!
Trevor & Leslie of CES are great to deal with. All their headers are custom made for the Rocket.
Leg clearance is marginal IMHO, but I have made leggins to compensate. If absolute power is not paramount, I would recommend @Paul Bryant headers as they have superior leg clearance.
Then again, IF absolute power is indeed your goal and all things being equal, the Brutes seem to provide more RWHP than do the CES, yet have less leg clearance and have old school springs everywhere. Only because I be ADHD with power & handling my priorities, am I considering a set of Brutes as well.
Ask & you shall receive . . .
 

I had the TORs when my motor was new. They were super quiet IMHO, barely louder than OEM.
Furthermore, they are also terminally fugly too large & take up way too much room for panniers. They are also WAY too heavy!
 
The cosmetic appeal is a bit off for me with different looks of the header and muffler system.

I’m right there with the OP trying to decide on a header system. I only ride the Rocket on day rides of 200-300 miles so some sound is ok. I was used to a CVO 110 motor with a Propipe on it that could get a little loud on a full day in a full modular helmet.

My priorities are in order are
Performance
Aesthetics
Sound ( I have Tors now and are in no way loud to me)
Heat and leg room
Cost

Can the Carpenter pipes be wrapped?
 

Each to their own taste, but wrap = rust!
I chose to create a leather, heat resistant leggin.
 
It’ll all relative to how you ride, keep in mind Steve and I both want pipes that don’t drag since we like cornering “spirited” . That calls for a muffler that’s high n tight.

The first thing to touch down should be the peg feelers not the muffler.