Guides / Sourcing
Sourcing and Quality Control for Audio Parts
Machining a front panel is not difficult. Making the same front panel again in a year, to the same appearance, is the whole job. This section is about buying that rather than buying a price.
Price comparison is misleading on cosmetic work, because most of the quote spread comes from ambiguity in the drawing rather than from the market. Two shops reading the same file can price completely different jobs, and you will not find out which until the parts arrive.
So this section works in both directions. What you have to put in the package so quotes are comparable, and what you have to ask a supplier so you know whether appearance is something they own or something they pass on.
What this section answers
- The four questions that separate a cosmetic shop from a general job shop
- How to mark cosmetic faces, zones and acceptance criteria on a drawing
- Running a first article where appearance is half the specification
- Packing and handling, which is where most cosmetic rejects are actually created
- How tolerances stack across an assembly, and how to choose datums
- What minimum order and lead time actually mean on cosmetic work
6 guides in this section
In reading order. Each one stands alone, but they are written to be read in sequence.
- Choosing a Supplier
Sep 6, 2026How to Choose a Machine Shop for Cosmetic Audio Parts
The questions that separate a shop that can make your faceplate from one that can make it twice. What to ask, what to send and what to check on arrival.
- Design for Manufacture
Jul 22, 2026Telling a Machine Shop Which Faces the Customer Will See
A cosmetic face is a specification, not an assumption. The notation, the zones and the criteria that make appearance something a shop can quote and measure.
- Choosing a Supplier
Jul 10, 2026Running a First Article on a Part Where Appearance Is the Spec
A standard FAI measures dimensions. On an audio part that is half the job. What to ask for, how to judge it and what to write down so batch two matches.
- Choosing a Supplier
Jul 6, 2026How Finished Audio Parts Get Damaged Between the Shop and You
Most cosmetic rejects are created after the part was made. Protective film, interleaving, tray design and the packing clauses worth putting in the order.
- Design for Manufacture
Sep 13, 2026How Tolerances Add Up Across an Audio Assembly
Worst case against statistical stacking, why chained dimensions cost money, and how to choose datums so the features a customer sees stay under control.
- Cost
Sep 15, 2026What Minimum Order and Lead Time Really Mean on Audio Work
Why finishing sets the minimum order rather than machining, where the weeks actually go in a twelve week quote, and how a small brand plans around both.
Working on a part like this?
Send the drawing. We match it with up to 3 shops that machine and finish parts for audio products, and reply within 24 business hours.
Other sections
Chassis
An enclosure is three or four parts made by different processes that have to end up looking like one object. This section covers how each part is made, what it costs and where those two things fight each other.
Finishing
A faceplate is judged on its surface before anyone reads a spec sheet. This section is about controlling that surface, and about the fact that most of it is decided long before the part reaches the anodizing tank.
Parts
These are the parts people pick up, turn and look at closely. They are small, which makes every cosmetic requirement harder, and they almost always come in matched sets.
For shops
The other half of this business. These are written for the shop owner rather than the buyer, because a match only works when both sides understand what the job actually costs.