800w spindle - noise & controlling remotely

[HankMcSpank]

Ok, I now have a machine that came with a 800w water cooled spindle (it's a used machine & didn't come with a VFD...presumably because the VFD went the way of 'he no workee')

I'm having severe doubts about even buying a replacement VFD, becuase...

1. The 800w spindle seems stupidly heavy for the size of this 3020 machine (& I'd rather have a zippy Z axis)

2. Water cooling just seems like a hassle (especially when my CNC sessions are typically 30 minutes to mill a pcb!)

3. I only ever mill pcbs (1.6mm thick fibleglass boards) and 5mm acrylic (never metal!)

but mainly because....

4. Every youtube video I've listened to, makes these water cooled spindles sound like jumbo jets taxi'ing down a runway (& I thought the unique selling point for these spindles was lower noise!). Jonathan's video helps my quest - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xciLCN2Dz08 but it sounds loud ....like erhm 'put that darned thing in a detached garage at the bottom of the garden' type of loud ...but once again, the camera is very close to the spindle)!

With this latter point in mind can anyone give me their thoughts on how loud their water cooled spindle sounds turning at say 12,000rpm?

My sensitivity to noise is because my CNC is in our house (in our dining room, you never hear anyone say "could you pass to the ketchup please", but rather "could you hand me a 3.175mm ball tip endmill please") ....my wife isn't at all happy about this arrangement (alas, "Oi woman ...know your place", hasn't had quite the required effect) & having the sounds of a jet turbine within earshot of Eastenders isn't going to strengthen our relationship! I'm hoping that all these aforementioned youtube videos sound loud because typically the camera gets *real* close to the spindle & therefore the mic gets real close to the spindle ....but how loud does a spindle sound at a couple of metres? (I realize this is subjective & perhaps unreliable, but nevertheless I'd welcome your comments. I actually rather fancy one of these in place of a water cooled spindle....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/12v-52v-Air-.../dp/B00CM5WCNO (i.e. a 2013 updated 400W version of the standard 300W spindle that's particularly ubiquitous in the budget CNC world)

With respect to controlling the speed & turning the VFD on/off....again, most videos I've seen, see the VFD mounted on a wall or pillar near the operator & then they press buttons on the VFD to start stop the spindle (what a drag) ....well if I went the way of a VFD, it would go in the CNC control box...so how much of an ordeal is it to control the VFD remotely (I'm thinking here by the CNC app ...how is the speed set remotely ...PWM? Some serial protocol?)