Reading an Audio RFQ Before You Spend an Hour on It

September 9, 2026

Audio work has a reputation among job shops for being fussy, and some of it is. The useful skill is telling the difference at the RFQ stage, before you have spent an hour on a quote or, worse, won a job you should have declined.

Green flags

These say the buyer has done this before and will be straightforward to work with.

A STEP file and a marked up PDF, not just a model
Cosmetic faces named, with zones or hatching
An acceptance criterion: viewing distance, light, time
A finish specification with an alloy, a process, a class and a thickness range, not just “black anodized”
Grain direction with an arrow, if the finish is directional
A rack point nominated, or an explicit invitation for you to propose one
A reference sample offered, or an acknowledgement that the first article will create one
Annual volume stated, not just this order
A general tolerance that is loose, with two or three critical features called out tight

That last one is the strongest single signal. A drawing with plus or minus 0.2 mm general and three tight features was written by someone who understands what things cost. A drawing with plus or minus 0.02 mm everywhere was not.

Red flags

“No visible defects” with no distance, light or time. Unpriceable as written.
“Must match our current supplier” with no physical part in hand. Not promisable.
A cosmetic finish and a hard deadline with no time for a first article. The buyer has already decided to skip the check that protects both of you.
Every dimension toleranced tightly. Either the drawing is a default template or the buyer does not know which features matter. Both mean questions.
Multiple parts that must match, quoted as separate line items with no mention of matching. The buyer has not realised the set is the unit.
Colour named in words only. “Gunmetal” is not a colour, it is a family of them.
No mention of packing on a part that will be shipped finished.
A request to quote against a photograph.

None of these are automatic refusals. They are questions. The distinction matters: a buyer who answers them well becomes a good account, and a buyer who will not answer them is telling you something.

The qualifying questions

Send these before quoting. They take the buyer ten minutes and save you an hour.

Which faces are cosmetic, and which are functional only?
Is there a physical reference sample, or does the first article create one?
What is the acceptance criterion: viewing distance, light source, inspection time?
Where may the rack or fixture contact point go?
Is this part part of a matched set with another part number?
What is the annual volume and the reorder pattern?
How should it be packed, and where does it ship to?
Is there time in the schedule for a first article through the real finish?

A buyer who answers all eight is worth quoting carefully. A buyer who answers none, after being asked politely, is a buyer whose expectations exist only in their head, and you will meet them at delivery.

Recognising the good long account

The economics of hi-fi are unusual and worth understanding, because they are why small orders can still be good business.

Volumes are low, typically tens to low hundreds per order
Products stay in production for years, sometimes a decade
Brands do not re-tender a part they are happy with, because the risk of a colour change outweighs a price saving
The same customer usually has several parts, so one good part leads to the panel, the knobs and the feet
They will pay for consistency, because a mismatched batch is more expensive to them than the premium

So the value is not in the first purchase order. It is in being the shop that does not have to be replaced.

What actually wins the work

From the buyer’s side, and this is worth knowing precisely because it is not price:

Who owns the finish. In house or a managed finisher, either is fine. Passing the blame is not.
How parts are handled between operations. Buyers ask, and the answer “in a bin” loses jobs.
Whether you will keep the fixtures and the program between orders.
Whether you will hold a retained sample.
Whether you will tell them a part is not a good fit rather than quoting it anyway.

The last point is counterintuitive and it is real. A shop that declines one part and explains why is more likely to get the next three than a shop that quotes everything.

A short rule

Quote the drawing that tells you what good looks like. Ask about the one that does not. Decline the one that promises a colour match with nothing to match against.

Frequently asked questions

Are small audio brands worth the trouble at 30 pieces?

Often yes, because they reorder the same part for years and they do not re-tender every time. The order is small and the account is long. The ones to avoid are not small, they are the ones with no reference sample, no acceptance criterion and a hard deadline.

What is the single biggest warning sign?

A cosmetic finish with no physical reference sample and a promise that it must match an existing product. That combination cannot be quoted honestly, and whoever accepts it inherits an argument they cannot win.

Should I quote a drawing that has no cosmetic information at all?

Quote it as a functional part and say so explicitly in writing, or ask the questions first. What you must not do is guess at a cosmetic standard, price it as functional and hope. That is how a shop ends up remaking a batch for free.

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Keep reading

This guide is part of Guides for Machine Shops Taking Cosmetic Work, one of four sections in the guide library.