Does anyone have any experience with this full-size tower case?

Lian Li PC-A71F
http://lian-li.com/v2/en/product/produc ... dex=61&g=f

Is it relatively quiet (i.e., like a stock P182)? I've never used an aluminum case before and I've heard they can be noisier than the steel/plastic ones (Antec P180/P182 and Nexus Prominent 9) that I've used in the past. I've never seen a Lian Li case in person either.

I'm also open to any alternatives although it has to have at least five 5.25" external bays and not look like a gamer case. For noise reasons, a front door is helpful (but not mandatory) since I'll be using a 5-in-3 drive bay. A P280 would be great if it had five 5.25" drive bays.

I found another similar case from Lian Li that is interesting:

Lian Li PC-B10
http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/pr ... dex=62&g=f

This one is smaller but if you remove the 120mm intake fan, you get five 5.25" drives. This particular unit is marketed towards the silent crowd with "noise reducing foam" on the side panels and front door but the foam doesn't look particularly thick. I've seen this one mentioned on the SPCR a few times and it got mostly positive reviews. The 5-in-3 drive bay might be a bit too deep for this though....it will be very close.

Do I go with the bigger PC-A71F and add my own noise reducing materials or go with the smaller PC-B10 that's supposedly quiet out of the box? I've never added noise reducing materials so I'd appreciate any thoughts on that too. I'm also still a bit nervous about the whole aluminum thing...

I think you'd be better off sticking with a P18x case. Have a look at my old rig for some modding ideas.

I really like what you've done and really like the P18x cases (I have 4 of them) but I unfortunately need at least five external 5.25" bays and the P18x series only has four (P280 has only three which is a bumme). Is there anything in particular about the Lian Li cases that concern you that I should be aware of?

Yesterday I changed my components from FT02 to this A71F.

It's little noisier than I thought. My one and only 3.5" hard drive caused massive hum, when attached in the upper rear bay.
Now it's suspended in the lower hard drive bay in the front and the hum is gone. Although I still hear some hum and rattle (with only GPU and CPU fans rotating), I think with some new fans and dampening this can be made reasonably quiet.