Acoustic treatment question: do you agree with Dennis Foley that $46k to $65k is required?


In a video from 1/29/2021 (yesterday) Dennis Foley, Acoustic Fields warns people about acoustic treatment budgets. He asserts in this video that treatment will likely require (summing up the transcript):

Low end treatment: $5-10k

Middle-high frequency: $1-1.5k

Diffusion: Walls $10-15k, Ceiling: $30, 40, 50k

https://youtu.be/6YnBn1maTTM?t=160

Ostensibly, this is done in the spirit of educating people who think they can do treatment for less than this.

People here have warned about some of his advice. Is this more troubling information or is he on target?

For those here who have treated their rooms to their own satisfaction, what do you think of his numbers?


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Not to derail the thread, but I too find Foley’s fiberglassophobia off putting and borderline ludicrous. Don’t get me started on perhaps well intentioned folks who invoke metaphysical concepts where they don’t belong, as seems to the the case in this instance. If it ain’t "all natural" or "organic" it is deadly, they seem to think. Never mind the fact that some of the most toxic substances known to man are natural products. Let’s go back to the good old preindustrial days, when people were really healthy as reflected in their average life span of 32 years.

OK, I will get off my soap box. All that said, Foley’s use of activated carbon (charcoal) is really intriguing. I can imagine those traps could be quite good. The ACDA 12 has some good activity below 50 Hz where it is hard to find things that work. They are very expensive and no doubt quite heavy, so are they cost effective? I don’t know.
@brownsfan  I agree about the weirdness of "fiberglassophobia."

For someone who is ostensibly a scientist and/or engineer, this scare tactic (which he dwells on) is very problematic. Clearly, if people believe him, they have to go with his (non-toxic) alternative which, by the way, is supposedly better acoustically as well. And, more profitable for him.

At the end of the day, are his products effective? Are they better? Well, maybe, but either he is honestly misinformed about fiberglass (which speaks to a deficiency of knowledge) OR he is intentionally misinforming others to sell products. Either way, it has a bad odor.
16.5 lbs/sq. feet, yes they are heavy. Look really peaky though. Lots of absorption at 50Hz, lots at 250Hz. Not a lot anywhere else.  Better hope you nodes are there or you may not get what you want:

https://acousticfields.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ACDA-12.pdf


These are ridiculous numbers if you need that much money on treatment you are using the wrong kind of room for your system. A good room will need very little treatment if any to sound wonderful and it is usually pretty easy to find a decent one in any normal floor plan house.
A good room will need very little treatment
I am not by far an acoustician and i speak only from my experience in my room...

The change induced by acoustic passive and active treatment and controls are so huge in SMALL room, that there exist probably no small room that will not benefit from them...

The decisive point is what is a small room and a big one? Reverberation time flows are key...

The reason why people think they dont need now treatment neither controls in their small " good" room is because they never lived the experience of total transformation of the S.Q.before in their audio live...

If you have not live it you cannot imagine it....We are conditioned by the market to buy speakers and thinking they are good or bad in themselves by virtue of their design and this in ANY room...This is completely false... Speakers change dramatically in different room...

I will repeat that give me almost any speaker i can make it sound great in a good room adapted to it...

Give me the best speakers there is in a bad small untreated and uncontrolled room, they will sound bad or at best not very good....

 THis is only my opinions after my limited but very real experience.... I dont think that any acoustician will contradict me....