What are the realities of loudspeaker design?

ELAC's Andrew Jones is a loudspeaker designer with a knack for making the complicated sound ever so simple. I'm less interested in his CV than understanding why most loudspeakers are wooden boxes. Or if active crossovers can solve problems that passive networks cannot? Or if a pair of loudspeakers can accurately reproduce a live event and can a loudspeaker ever be considered 100% 'neutral'? At the very end of the loudspeaker design process, is Jones measuring or is he listening? Are there any pitfalls that he looks for when measuring a loudspeaker? Why doesn't he publish his own measurements of ELAC'S Debut and Uni-Fi series? Further info: https://www.elac.com/