Are exotic speaker cabinet materials overrated?

My investigation of Resin Impregnated Densified Wood Board, which is the material Linn uses for their Plinth. 

As a material having been evolved as a design extends back near 100 years. Similar to Thermoplastic and certain Alloys. 

The most recent productions are offering assurity the materials remain stable across a range of exposures in a host of environments. 

When such materials are selected for use for Audio Purposes and are a material used by a Brand with a broad exposure. Such materials become exponentially expensive. 

A Board of Resin Impregnated Densified Wood of a Depth to suit a Periphery of a TT's Plinth, which when cut would produce blanks for 10 x Plinths is approx £2.5K.

Machinging and Finishing at approx ' £250ish.

In relation to a certain Brand, approx' £5K becoming £80Kish.

The same material used for a one off Speaker Cabinet Design as a 25mm - 32mm Thick board at 2mtr x 1mtr will enable 2 x Boards to be purchased at approx £2K.

Board Cutting - Rebating - Assembling will be close to £800 is complex with multiple cuts and parts assembly. 

Speakers from widely exposed Brands using this material type, have their cheapest in the range with this tye of Cabinet construction with a Veneer Finishing starting close to £50K.

I have done costings very recently for a new Speaker Design I am committing to, as an End Game Speaker. 

I fail to see anything that exalts this material type, to being more than what is already known widely, which is, as a material, it adapts itself very well for certain roles within an Audio design. 

@sounds_real_audio  - I am a big fan of composite materials, both in cabinets and speaker drivers.  I've always found mids made of composites, from a variety of vendors, sounding more clean and natural.  The resonance damping effects are real. 

You can correctly model/engineer things for resonance control in a cabinet...Yamaha, for example, does it correctly (probably patented), though it’s not complicated to begin with...It is all part and parcel of a lot of things in the aerospace industry, for example...and has been forever.

https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/speaker_systems/ns-5000/index.html

Not keep at it with some x, v.. material....btw, hit it with a xrf gun and you’ll know exactly what plastic or whatever the hell it is....no "mystery" material X, V, B (for bull), C (for crap) material needed... (wannabe elusive/mysterious goofuses)

Which "top" speaker companies are still using MDF in their flagships? It's a crappy material. Perfectly fine for budget and maybe midline speakers, but top-end? Aluminum, stone (granite/marble), baltic birch ply etc - these are excellent "exotic" cabinet materials, but obviously there's a lot more that should go into a top-class speaker cabinet than fashioning a simple box of <material>.  

I've really liked: Magico S-series (extruded aluminum - haven't heard the higher end lines), Tannoys (baltic birch ply cabs made in Poland), Acora (granite, especially liked the smaller "faceted" towers). Are the big Focal Utopias MDF (albeit extremely complex)? I've never liked those, for what it's worth. 

Exotic cabinet materials are used for a number of reasons. They are chosen based on rigidity and damping to  control effects from internal and external resonances thereby providing a clear neutral, and dynamic sound, or otherwise achieve a specific sound quality by design intent (brand or house sound).  Exotic materials also provide manufacturability for asymmetric internal surface designs that lesser materials do not provide.  Finally, exotic materials are a means for brand recognition, esthetics, and marketing to achieve price differentiation.  To me, while this is critical, cabinet design, including shape (asymmetric internal surfaces, external surfaces, and driver alignment, bracing, damping, etc. are more important to achieve a clear, neutral sound by pushing resonances above the speakers band pass or breaking resonance into low Q modes. Of course driver and crossover design is a whole other expose.  Perhaps some of the engineers in the group can build further on the principles of exotic materials vs cabinets design.