The aluminium boxes of genelec pushes the cabinet vibrations upwards to a higher frequency than plain MDF. The box walls are stiffer.In my opinion the main reason Genelec use a cast aluminium construction for the cabinet is due to the rounded construction to ameliorate edge diffraction which would be impossible to construct in mdf, it could be made in carbon fibre and the sound tailored by use of various densities/epoxies used, you could have a choice of surface finishes and lay up design which would be pretty cool.
Neumann designs are basic box construction so no need nor advantage to aluminium construction.
In my opinion, as a former DIY:er, the sound always gets better if you can raise the freq of the resonanses with a stiffer cabinet.
The aluminum cabinett also act as a shield for RFI radiation and thats a very good thing for the inbuilt electronics.
A MDF box have no RFI shielding . Its like listening to an amplifier without alu- box.
Does this matter ? I dont know if you can hear a difference.
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