What I don’t understand is why there are so few speaker companies making open baffle speakers, and why are they not more popular among audiophiles?
Because we all hear differently, have different tastes, different rooms and different systems. Different companies have different technologies or design philosophies they want to feature.
If I could listen to every speaker out there in my room, with my electronics I would probably end up with a different pair of speakers than what I have. Different electronics too. Since I have to buy something in order to listen to it, and I buy used for that reason, my selection is pretty dramatically restricted. Most of us here are probably in the same situation. So we end up with the best that we can do, not necessarily the best possible.