Haha to be fair to ABA, their business model is fast in fast out, so can't help but have some casualties on the way. If you have a QT or just plain lucky, their fish prices are a fair bit cheaper than other places. So if you think about it, if you spend $100-200 on a simple QT, you'll get your money's worth if you shop at ABA. I know reefers who do QT, and they do have good experiences with ABA. As for SAS, try not to be too over confident also la, I personally know other reefers who got from there also experience mortality. Imo SAS IS "better", but as our Police like to say, "Low crime doesn't mean no crime".
1. Actually another way to reduce a little sound is to buy those food grade silicon mat, and put under the pump to further reduce sound which comes from vibration. You can buy on Lazada/Shopee etc, but make sure its food grade. Alternatively, you can buy at IKEA also, its not ex but just a hassle to go there I guess, slightly risky too with all the covid cases going on now.
2. Yea DC pumps are great for sound right? Btw, you could consider to use the "old" 1200 LPH pump for your chiller, and the new DC pump for main return + UV? Then maybe you can go one down from max. But in any case, running at max shouldn't be any problem imo, they're supposed to be designed for it! Just make sure the flow rate would let your chiller cool your tank efficiently. If you find that your chiller takes a long time to chill your tank, its generally either (1) undersized, (2) flow rate too fast or too slow.