CHenry

Whatever floats your boat.

The OP was interested in suggestions about wheels that would work for him, within his limitations of budget, features and quality. Your reply seems more about what works best for you, as a wheel builder, not wanting work coming back with problems you might have to fix later.

Since he is replacing Aksiums, which are a "value"- oriented lightweight road wheelset, with 20h hubs (so Mavic advertises, he did not specify) he says are not strong enough for his riding weight, a 32h 3x cross "traditional" road wheelset, what anymore are sold as training wheelsets, would probably be fine, even with Open Pros. Since these are also available ready-made with the grade of hubs he would like, and are often available at discount, they might fit his requirements very well.

I don't subscribe to the notion that the only good rides can be had on hand-built wheels. That is just plain laughable. It gets repeated on these forums as if it were religion, not surprisingly by people who sell wheelbuilds.

If you have a big budget, or want a specific combination of hub, spoke and rim that is not common, then custom wheelbuilding is the way to go. But if you just want a decent, strong wheelset that doesn't break the bank, get the ready-mades. Lots of people are happy with them and they really do work fine.