Ideally we'd like the handle to be a one-piece assembly, but machining away that much aluminium would cost a fortune in waste. We're looking at casting the handle instead, but no news yet on costs.

What about redesigning the handle so it's a thinner, flat piece of aluminum stock which gets bent in two places to form the handle? As I recall, that's how the handle on my Sony pullout CD player was done.

Of course, this would require a redesign of the face to compensate, but you'd get more real estate for the faceplate that way. Ah, well, you're probably not interested in redesigning anything the Mark2 units at this point. Just something to think about for the next revision, I suppose.

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144