Are exotic speaker cabinet materials overrated?

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.  

Good question.  Don’t know about overrated but can be overpriced depending on the manufacturer and materials used.  I encourage anything that advances the sound and appearance of equipment even if I can’t afford it.  Often results in trickle down to less expensive equipment.  I love equipment that sounds great and looks cool.  

@b2colchagoff Kudos to you for superior construction materials. Good luck with your speakers. Suggest making the graphic details optional.