One small comment if I may - if you go the milled-from-solid kind of presentation, I suspect you'll push the prices of these boxes through the roof into an increasingly fickle and, dare I suggest it, ignorant market where looks and often falsely perceived 'sound quality' rules still over proper design.....
Okay, I admit it, I'm a closet fan of Schiit's case offerings. They've gone through a few evolutions of their simple casework and I'd suggest it works a treat visually and simplicity. Could a variant of that idea be used here in the UK, or have we totally lost the plot here now.
I simply don't have the funds to even consider lavish looking boxes (many out there are sadly, swanky trinkets sold for a lot of money each box), so a simple utilitarian presentation suits me fine (the main gear hides away in a cabinet anyway). Maybe your customers *want* something more 'eye-catchingly stylish and fair-do's if they do (E.A.R did this to advantage but hang the UK selling prices).
In all honesty, I'm looking forward to simplicity. I'm happy to hand back the saving from automation in production and testing of the boards into the enclosure. I suspect the real price will not need to change, and could even be reduced - it's quite possible to do this if I get the quantity of components I'm looking at using. The milled boxes will most likely be smaller than the current extruded ones as the SMT boards require less area. I'm aiming at less than 1 litre of volume for the new PRO designs and less than 600ml for the SPARTAN types. All well under 3kg blocks to start with, and even less once milled out.
At the moment I'm thinking of just running out all my current stock and packing up with just the new prototypes and drawings to go somewhere aluminium is cheap (perhaps 5th largest producer) and there are plenty of CNC shops.
The Schiit enclosures (and the company in general) are truly great. A fantastic implementation of the two-piece construction and simplicity itself - plus they've even managed to turn it into a distinctive style! I don't think I can compete with them at their price level and steel build style, so I will try and take position in the points in between them and the lower end of 'high-end'.
I still feel somewhat that that a weighty, sturdy, rock-solid enclosure with good finish quality contributes to the subjective listening experience. If you're wiring something like that into your setup and feeling the quality as you do, you're definitely more disposed to hear better things when it's switched on!
Something I get very often post-sale is 'if you make a higher-end version, can I go on a waiting list?'. It's clear a lot of people want to spend more and are even put off by the lower comparative prices of the PRO types. There should still be equal-or-better replacements for what's currently on offer at the present prices, then something more luxurious (maybe even with wooden sides) for those with higher budgets. I don't think I should try and make a line-amplifier for under 1k, though... Too much competition and too many similar devices. Now, a big full-size thing with VU meters, plenty of inputs and outputs, defeatable tone knobs + some expensive electronics inside to do the volume control sans-potentiometer or relay, that's a more exciting proposition!
