Fibre Splice Box: Buy Loaded or Empty? The Price Ladder

The same 19″ fibre splice box comes in three build levels: as an empty enclosure, with couplings already fitted, or fully loaded and splice-ready with pigtails and a splice cassette. Which level is right for you depends less on the product than on your own splicing capacity. This page sets out the price ladder — with current net prices from our shop — and the criteria that decide it.

The price ladder: three build levels, one chassis

Level 1: empty enclosure

The empty enclosure consists of the chassis, front plate and cable entries — you fit the couplings, pigtails and splice cassettes yourself. An example from the DIAMOND range: the Future-Box 2U, empty with a 60-way SX front plate (part no. 109050), slide-out and lockable, at a list price of €248.00 net — available on request. In the F4P range, the modular route is the entry point: the 19″ subrack, 1U for 3 modules of 7 HP each (part no. 120001) costs €56.70 net and is filled with splice modules as required.

Level 2: couplings fitted

The middle level: couplings are fitted and screwed in place, while pigtails and splice cassettes are not included. This makes sense for teams that stock their own pigtails or assemble them to project-specific requirements. A typical use case is operators who keep their own pigtail stock and document fibre colours and routing to an in-house standard. We do not carry this build level as a stock item in the shop; instead we put it together as a project configuration — priced to the bill of materials, on request.

Level 3: fully loaded, splice-ready

The box arrives ready to install: couplings fitted and screwed in place, pigtails seated in the couplings and laid into the splice cassette with the secondary coating stripped back. On site, all that remains is the splice onto the incoming cable. We supply every F4P splice box in this state as standard — for example the SB 6 (12) LC DX OM3 splice box (part no. 107000) at €81.90 net. In the DIAMOND range, the equivalent is the Future-Box 2U with 60× E-2000 SX SM APC (part no. 109038) at a list price of €2,430.00 net, on request.

Build level	Example	Scope of supply	Net price
Empty enclosure	DIAMOND Future-Box 2U, empty with 60-way SX front plate (part no. 109050)	Slide-out/lockable chassis, front plate, cable entries	€248.00 list price, on request
Empty enclosure, modular	F4P subrack 1U 3×7 HP (part no. 120001)	19″ carrier for 3 plug-in modules	€56.70
Couplings fitted	Project configuration	Chassis + couplings, without pigtails/cassettes	to bill of materials, on request
Fully loaded	F4P SB 6 (12) LC DX OM3 splice box (part no. 107000)	6 LC duplex couplings, 12 pigtails, splice cassette with holder	€81.90
Fully loaded	F4P SB 24 (24) LC DX OS2 APC splice box (part no. 107074)	24 LC duplex couplings, 48 fibres, splice-ready	€189.00
Fully loaded	DIAMOND Future-Box 2U, 60× E-2000 SX SM APC (part no. 109038)	60 E-2000 couplings, pigtails, splice cassettes	€2,430.00 list price, on request

All prices net, plus VAT; shop prices as of July 2026. DIAMOND items are available on request via our contact form.

Break-even: splice it yourself or buy it loaded?

The DIAMOND example puts real figures on the price ladder: between the empty enclosure (€248.00) and the splice-ready 60-port version (€2,430.00) there is a list-price difference of €2,182.00 — a good €36 per port for couplings, pigtails, splice cassettes and the factory loading. To come out ahead with the empty enclosure, you would have to beat that figure with your own labour.

Three cost blocks come into play: buying material in small quantities (pigtails, couplings, cassettes), the labour time for loading and fibre routing, and the splice equipment itself. A fusion splicer is a substantial investment; without a machine you already own and trained staff, the break-even on individual boxes is not realistically achievable. Actual hourly rates depend on region and utilisation — work with your own internal rates here, including testing and documentation.

With the F4P boxes, the question barely arises in practice: a fully loaded SB 6 with 12 fibres costs €81.90 net — the gap to self-assembly is so small that breaking down the bill of materials is not worth the effort. The empty enclosure stays attractive mainly when you need special build configurations or handle large volumes with your own production.

How many fibres — which box?

Fibres	Recommendation	Net price
up to 12	SB 6 (12) LC DX OM3 — 6 LC duplex ports, 1U	€81.90
up to 24	SB 12 (12) LC DX OM3 — 12 LC duplex ports, 1U	€134.40
up to 48	SB 24 (24) LC DX OS2 APC — 24 LC duplex ports, 1U	€189.00
up to 96	SB 24 (24) LC QUAD OS2 APC — 24 LC quad ports, 1U	€309.00
E-2000, up to 60 fibres	DIAMOND Future-Box 1U/2U, slide-out and lockable	List price, on request
modular up to 144	DIAMOND subrack 4U with compact modules	List price, on request

Alongside the port count, the fibre type decides the choice: OS2 for singlemode links, OM3/OM4/OM5 for multimode in the data centre. Choose the connector type to match your existing patch panel — each of the examples in the table is also available in the shop in further fibre and connector variants, as well as in grey and black.

Plan in some reserve: if you are terminating 20 fibres today, you are better off choosing the 48-fibre box — the surcharge is small, whereas retrofitting later in a live rack is expensive. For E-2000 cabling with a spring-loaded laser-protection shutter, the route leads to the DIAMOND range; the Future-Box pulls out like a drawer in service, without touching the adjacent rack units.