The switched reluctance drive exhibits higher levels of vibration and acoustic noise than that of most competing drives. The main source of vibration in the switched reluctance drive is generated by rapid change of radial force when phase current is extinguished by commutation action. A new excitation strategy for a Switched Reluctance Motor with Auxiliary Winding (SRMAW) is described and tested. This scheme has auxiliary winding with one diode which is sound to all th poles in one winding. In this scheme, auxiliary winding is used to reduce magnetic stress during commutations. The abrupt change of a phase excitation produces mechanical stresses and it results in vibration and noise. The acoustic noise is reduced remarkably through 2-stage commutation. The operational principle and a characteristic comparison to that of the conventional SRM show that this scheme has some advantages including noise reduction as well as high efficiency drive.