Dennis Foley does not have formal education in engineering or acoustics. His videos and other content are a mix of fact and nonsense.
His low frequency carbon-based absorbers are less effective than competing products, and there is only one academic paper I've seen which concludes that carbon is only potentially useful for low frequency absorption. Carbon also has the unfortunate property of becoming saturated over time when exposed to air and humidity, so it's likely that those products have an undisclosed expiration date.
RPG and a few other companies have set the standard. Acoustic Fields is mostly sales aimed at the uninformed.
first off, having a formal education is nice, but not mandatory. I've known people that didn't have an education that were asked to join the Xerox PARC's group. when he said he didn't any degree, he was told, "Oh, you're one of THEM". sarcastically. I usually would agree that having a degree makes you more credible. But I've met many that were total BS too.
As far as his videos, you didn't go into any specifics with any valid evidence to counter argue anything, so your comment is nonsense.
Please name ONE thing he said that was nonsense and provide tangible proof it was nonsense. THEN we can have a discussion about what he says in his videos.
if you are talking about Activated Carbon, there's more than just one type of AC on the market. According to him, he had to figure out what materials would be used, he had to figure out the size of the pellets and the porosity levels AND he had to chemically treat the pellets to avoid moisture absorption. He even admits that untreated Activated Carbon can, depending on the conditions, absorb moisture thus rendering the AC useless. That he has admitted to, but that's why he has the AC chemically treated to avoid moisture absorption, and to further prevent moisture absorption, the. AC is in a filter that's placed inside a sealed cabinet and they are designed for using inside a home rather than letting them sit outside in the rain.
So, I just obliterated your comments.
Now, yes RPG is a big corporation that's been around a long time and yes the founder of RPG came up with the first commercialized Quadratic Diffusors, but QD's were designed originally by Schroeder in the '70's. But in terms of low frequency absorption, they didn't use Activated Carbon because they didn't think of it first. it just so happens that Dennis did, and he'll be the first to admit it was by accidents, which in the past accidents have produced industry changing products in a wide range of industries. Heck, Penicillin, Post It notes, Coca Cola, the Slinky, Play-Doh, Potato Chips, Silly Putty, Popsicles, x-Rays, Microwave Ovens were all created BY ACCIDENT.
Acoustic Fields has solid designed diffusers and he uses proper calculations to determine that dimensions, which other companies like GIK uses horrible dimensions and are made out of very cheap materials and construction methods.
I don't know why you are so down on Acoustic Fields products. I've been in a variety of listening rooms, some with expensive equipment to recording studios of various sizes and my own experience, the first demo room I heard that Acoustic Fields had blew me away. Never heard anything better in terms of small room acoustics.
his foam is DEFINITELY different than anything else on the market.
I have used Tube Traps in my last home and they don't hold a candle to what AF has.
RPG doesn't have anything that special in terms of Low Frequency absorption.
Dennis as a person, and his past, take that out of the equation. I'm just only looking at the products.
Yes, they are expensive, no argument.
Yes, their ACDA products are heavy, no argument there either.
But in terms of effectiveness? show me with actual test measurements something better. I had gone to every website of other products on the market and haven't seen anything with better measurements than his products.
I saw the original paperwork Dennis got back from Riverbank Labs so his absorption curves posted on his website are consistent with what came from Riverbank Labs, which Dennis also verified by his own measurements.
You can certainly buy the build design of his product because he sells a version of his diaphragmatic low frequency cabinets on-line and make several cabinets and use THEIR Activated Carbon that's been chemically treated and then use other materials you choose to see how "effective" his are in your own setting to prove or disprove what he's selling, but until you do, and you show FACTUAL proof to disprove what he claims, I suggest you run along and stop bothering people with your claims that aren't validated and only YOUR opinion with nothing to validate them.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
