Are there speakers with cloth/soft enclosures instead of wood?

Q: What is the sound of one hand clapping?  
A: Depends how fast.

What are you talking about you have been home to long.

So - speaker in free air = one hand clapping? On the other hand (!) a box is a problem too? Sorry. Home too long.
On the same note, why wood? Why not granite, cement or something super-stable? I remember when that was the fad.

Vandersteen Model 1,2, and 3

Yep, and my 2CE Sigs sound fantastic. The cloth covering is also part of the acoustic design and engineering.

Yes, the actual speaker drivers are in a box behind the cloth, but that is rather limited for the mid-range and tweeter, not so much the bass driver and acoustic coupler; Providing for sound coming out around the speaker, unlike a conventional box. Somewhat between an open baffle speaker and a true box speaker.

A box inside the box will set you free