Anyone buy acoustic foam ?

[tp4tissue]

The spiky/ egg carton foam pads.

Price seems kinda inflated.  But are the cheap ones the same stuff as the expensive ones ?

[Darthbaggins]

The last set I got was $16 for 8 panels, price normally depends on thickness and density of the material (then who's label is on the package).
This is close to what I had bought: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DFS4ZVJ/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_ttoAFbXGTK4F1
It worked for my uses around my office at that time (where it was needed).

[yui]

well denser is more expensive and effective but there are also brand markups and if you are not planing on recording music i would expect the cheap stuff (or carpets on the wall/floor/ceiling) to be plenty good enough. also saw youtubers recycle old towels into panels and hang them from the ceiling to pretty decent results

[jamster]

What do you expect from acoustic foam? I think there's a lot more to it than just randomly slapping this stuff on some walls- you really need a calibrated mic in order to do anything for room treatments.

[tp4tissue]

Trying to get reduced eco, early reverb.

[Sniping]

Random thought but I once bought a memory foam mattress and noticed that it noticeably dampened the ambient noise when I laid it up against the wall

[Sintpinty]

They don't fit well on my wall

[Darthbaggins]

Also moving blankets work well as sound dampening treatments (not very pricey either) - there are also sound treatment blankets too.

[jamster]

Trying to get reduced eco, early reverb.

For what sort of setup- home recording, music playback?

[tp4tissue]

For what sort of setup- home recording, music playback?

piano, which would fall under playback.

[jamster]

If my Googling was correct, a piano covers from 30Hz to 4KHz... that egg crate stuff isn't really all that effective to start with (I used to work with interior designers who had to build rooms suitable for audio/videoconferencing) and it certainly won't do anything for any sort of bass.

Higher frequencies... you're probably better off with stuff that'll just diffract/diffuse without looking horribly tacky. Bookshelves loaded with actual books is the usual suggestion. Or if you've got access to a table saw, you can build sound treatment panels out of ply and wall insulation for very, very cheap. Cover them in acoustic cloth or burlap, and you've got professional level sound treatment materials (still, it's a lot of guesswork without a calibrated mic and something like REW).

The other common approach is to just hang a heavy rug or drapes on a wall. Again, this looks way better than egg crate foam. And if you ever take it down, at least you have a rug, rather than a load of rubbish.

I made a couple of 2x4 panels along these lines: https://www.musicianonamission.com/diy-acoustic-panels/ Chose a neutral grey, they look pretty good and will be reusable whenever I move house.