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

I am new to shopping for acoustic treatments. I thought that Foley’s company was a competitor to GIK, ATS, etc. (which are "generic" products, in your terms). But now I understand Foley aims at a clientele that wants to pay his prices for his solutions. I misread the intent in his video, which I thought was aimed at a wider audience. I appreciate your comments. Thank you.

His target market is people willing to pay the prices he charges, not people who need to pay the prices he charges.  Most people's acoustics are poor enough that almost anything is an improvement and will elicit a positive response.

This seems to be the biggest issue I find with audiophiles.  Many think their system is closed and only somewhat dependent on their room.  Some will will throw thousands of dollars at magical cables and power conditioners while applying wall treatment like it was art, with a few 1" thick absorbent panels.  It's all so silly.

I have spent 30+ years as a recording/ mix engineer and have built 4 studios in that time.  The first two were DIY and sounded like it.  The 3rd and 4th were both designed by Francis Manzella who really knew how to get the most out of a room.  Without a purpose-built listening room it's unlikely most homes have a floating room with very good ratios and built with multi-layer, heavy, damped construction.  My current listening room has those qualities and it still required 32 tuned Helmholtz resonators in the corners, broadband membrane traps against the front wall, RPG Diffractal arrays across most of the back wall, and 4" 703 clouds over about 80% of the ceiling and 70% of the side walls.  That treatment takes into consideration that the low frequency modes will already be well spaced and the treatment only enhances what is already a very even room.  Much of it is invisible.  It's not speaker wire lifted off the ground.   It doesn't look like I tweaked it.  It's only a starting point.  To sweat microscopic details in a room fundamentally poor at reproducing a flat frequency response is sort of a hallmark of the audiophile community and is the reason folks poke fun at it.  The dollar amount tossed around in the video sounds conservative for a really good room and has to assume symmetry, good ratios and dimensions, and really good building technique.  But people would rather argue about what kind of wood makes an amplifier rack sound best.

In all fairness to Dennis Foley, he clearly makes the point that the most expensive part of room treatment is bass management. He clearly states that managing fundamental frequencies, in the 30 , 40, 50 cycle range is the name of the game or the higher multiple harmonics will not be correct. I would bet, that most readers of this discussion have not addressed their own issues in this range and to do so, will realize that expenditures can be substantial. 

I had a free phone consultation with him a couple months back.  He is abrasive to say the least.  Turned me off so much I couldn’t wait to get off the phone. 

@eganmedia I very much appreciate hearing from someone with expertise. Thank you for taking the time to comment.

To sweat microscopic details in a room fundamentally poor at reproducing a flat frequency response is sort of a hallmark of the audiophile community and is the reason folks poke fun at it.

This makes a lot of sense to me, and I have seen many on this forum make this point and indicate where a genuine difference could be made. So, not all here are poke-worthy.

In the context of your other sensible remarks, all I can say is this: I do not have a great room, but it’s not terrible. (That’s ok. I’m a college teacher, not a recording/ mix engineer. When it comes to teaching and research tools, I spend what’s necessary on travel, books, journals, bibliography tools, etc. Audio is a hobby so I do not need to spend as if it was my profession. I have no desire to put )

By the use of REW and a lot (lot!) of measuring and listening, I’ve shifted everything in the room to cooperate to be much, much better. At this point, there are a couple of options -- either (a) I realize that my room can never be great, and I do nothing more to it, or (b) I seek out treatment proportionate to my room’s (limited) potential which could make a noticeable impact. I’ve embarked on (b) because other hobbyists have indicated they made improvements which mattered. So finding a company that can address that more limited ambition is my goal and I appreciate your help in helping me refine my options a bit more.