Sherwood I'm still a bit confused. The 47 Labs housings are as straight forward as I can imagine; plain black enclosures for the most part.
This is the 47 Labs website: Sakura Systems
Their Gaincard says the US price is $1650, which also seems pretty reasonable given they did all the R&D.
"Those housings drive the price WAAY up, and I think they're somewhat cheesy."
Unless by this you mean Musical Laboratory housings and not 47 Labs?