I think there is enough pent up demand (overall, not just here) for 20-30 pairs up front, and you could probably move upwards of 75 pairs over 12 months. Those are numbers that are approaching benefit in having stuff machined. The problem is few people want to assuming the financial risk to have everything machined and built only to move less than 75% of them right off. Pre-orders won't move them, it's something that a bunch will pick up, if they work well and people talk about them, the rest will get sold over a year or so. I'd be surprised at more than 100 sets though (assuming 2 per set for a stereo pair). Thats why I said everyone should pick up 2 sets (so 4 total), cause if anything happens and one gets crushed in a wook stampede, it's probably a one-time deal. Second, that makes that initial risk lower and thus increases the odds they get made.
That is absolutely the case. Though in many respects, the machining is the easy part.
I'm at the point of being ready to move from prototypes to producing volume, but that needs to be funded.
More difficult - I need the time to crank out sets, with great quality, and testing. And also the time to deal with customer orders for various configs. All while maintaining a career, and life. I have made a huge investment of time, and not an insignificant amount in components and gear, getting to this point. After all that, nobody wants to end up with a bunch of parts that you can't sell.
But Winter is coming, and that's a good time for projects like this.