T-flex insulation feet:

The Problem:

vibrations are a great problem in hi-fi reproduction. In particular, they are able to influence the clarity of the musical message, the “solidity” of the bass response and the resolution of fine details. Vibration-control is one of the most important, and often neglected, action to take in order to reach the hi-end nirvana.

The solution:

the easiest solution is to put all your system on a dedicated very good “rack”, specifically built to avoid any transmission of vibration coming from external (e.g. the room floor excited by the loudspeakers) and to dissipate all the vibrations generated by the electronic equipments itself (e.g. the motor of a CD player transport). If you are very rich you can buy such a good “table”, like for example a Finite Element “Pagode”, or something else even more expensive. If you are not so rich, then you can buy at least a very good board, to put your more problematic electronic above it. A good example can be the Acappella “Fondato Silenzio”, that comes together with 3 aluminum feet. If you are not so much rich, then you can buy at least three good insulation feet, like those produced by the Japanese brands like Combak-Harmonix, or Taoc, or Shun Mook, or Ko-Rho, or Daruma. If your money is still not enough, then you could buy 3 graphite feet, like the very good ones once produced by A.R.T. (alias Be Yamamura), or ceramic feet, like the Finite Element Cera-ball. As much as I like the A.R.T. Q-damper Limited Edition, I think that this kind of material is not the best solution under many CD players, because it really increases the resolution of high frequency details, but usually it decrease the “bass energy impact”, with respect to the usual sorbothane feet usually mounted below CD players. In this way the sound can become a little too “dry”. A better solution has been reported (I have not tried it) to be the Austrian-made G-Flex feet, that have a -radial- spring inside. But if you can't afford even these ones, than you have no chance but to build the T-flex feet (alias Tino-flex)!

Daruma feet are two aluminum blocks with a sphere inside.	A.R.T. Q-damper LE are blocks of synthetic graphite.	Finite Element Cera-ball are a ceramic compound.

To produce the T-flex you should just buy some Champagne caps and cut the two “wings”. What will remain is a rubber base with a spring inside a metallic cup.

Only an innocent child can think that these toys are really Champagne caps.	A perverse audiophile clearly understand that they are a form of vibration-control tool. Just cut their wings!
Three T-flex under my CJ DV-2b CD player.	Other cheap isolation feets that I have tried includes Ikea cork, wooden semi-sphere, door-stop rubbers and Alabaster polyhedrons.

Testing the G-flex under my old CJ DV-2b CD player I have found better results than with other cheap feet. Let's say that they were able to improve also the bass response and not only to make clearer highs. On the other hand, on my modded Sony XA5400ES SACD player I have found a overall better result using the Alabaster polyhedrons (bought in Volterra), so you have to do many tests with your equipment. Of course, if you have more money you can buy something much better...