>1) Port noise, the whooshing of the air through the holes. I solved that by not placing the fan close to the empeg vents. It's in the back corner where there's a lot of air space behind the fan. In this position, its job is not so much to drag the air over the hard disks, it's more like just making sure the air in the case is moving at all; up from the bottom and out the back of the case. Really, it doesn't need much more than that.

Yeah, this fan is now running quite slowly, and seems more than effective enough here.

The cabinet design being offered here is very slim, pretty much a flush fit with the player. As such, there's no room for significant airflow around the unit, so a rear-mount fan is out of the question with this design.

I could produce a larger docking cabinet, to permit airflow for a rear-mount fan, but that would add a number of new pieces and joints to the design, increasing the labour required for construction. Still, if that's what it takes to obtain acceptable fan sound levels, then that's what will happen.

But first, I'm going to live with the present design for a few days and see if the fan is an issue or not. So far, it sounds fine.

I'll wire up the docking connector and rear panel tomorrow, and if all goes well I should be able to take some pics of the completed unit for posting.

Cheers