Are exotic speaker cabinet materials overrated?

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.

@b2colchagoff As a result of measurements of Damping/Dissipation, there is evidence that shows where the attractors are to be found in many Board Materials. 

In relation to Plywoods typically used and not too commonly used, the following may be off ninterest:

​​​​​​BB Plywood at approx 700Kg/m3, is a structural material that has a successor when it comes to a Timber Board material used for audio purposes. 

Densified Board Plywoods that are approc’ 950Kg/m3, have improved properties for controlling amplitude transferal. Board compression is typically 25% compared to a BB Plywood. A 0.8mm ply will be 0.6mm in a finished board. The finished board is not produced from a dellignified veneer, or is it a homogeneous material. 

Densified Board Plywood has a successor being Resin Impregnated Densified Wood Board.  Which is typically a delignified wood veneer, produced in a heat controlled Vacuum Chamber, under a compression that reduced the veneer by 50%.

A 0.8mm Ply when in a finished board is 0.4mm. The Board Type is approx’ 1450Kg/m3. This material as a finished board, is very close to being a homogeneous substance. 

There are Compressed Bamboo Boards that show damping/Dissipation properties that are close to RIDWB and this type of Board is also becoming more mainstream for use in Audio products.