The tech rechecked installation after removing primary cover. I just have to trust that he knew what he was doing. I asked for him to do the work because he was the shop foreman and I figured that he knew his stuff. It is possible chain could be incorrectly adjusted as they did say that they thought the noise was coming from a too loose chain and tightened up the adjuster on the tensioner. It did not help at all. I rode his bike back over again and was told by the service manager that he needed to keep the rpm up more in each gear to ease the noise level. It does help but who wants to ride at high rpm all of the time? Did not have to before new comp was installed.
I'm not so sure I would automatically trust that any tech knows what he's doing. I've sure run into a ton of them over the years that didn't, in Harley shops as well as in my professional role in the automotive industry.
IF it was normal for the SE compensator to really be that much louder than the original design, why do you suppose the folks with the 2010 and later CVO's haven't been raising holy hell about the noise (since those bikes came stock with the SE comp)? The SE part should be an improvement. The fact that it isn't on his bike leads me to believe that either the install was done incorrectly, or perhaps something else was damaged during the remove and replace scenario.
btw, did they verify that the original compensator was the source of the original noise? Was it showing signs of severe bottoming and wear? Did they bother to check the rear wheel sprocket damper (IDS)? Those were a new item in 2008, and a lot of premature wear on the elastomer biscuits was reported back then.
I don't know what to tell you, other than I would not accept this outcome if I were the owner of that bike.
Jerry