if you know how all surfaces move its only a question of computer horsepower to get the sound field in a defined/known environment
If it was so simple to design the perfect driver..
In my early stages of development I used laser and the other tools.
Without I would not have been able to "see" and rectify the flaws.
When this phase was finished and surround, cone, dust cap and voice coil was performing as wanted I had still not "listened" to the driver.
I now had 10 slightly different surround / cone assemblies that passed the above mentioned tests - 100 pcs of each variant for production variation control. 4 different voice coils. 4 different magnet systems (ferrite, alnico, two different neodym)...
It was at this stage when I tested out the 160 combinations I understood that traditional measurement methods do not tell anything about the sonics.
Later when I tested AMT prototypes I was able to verify that I could deform the diaphragm (with a heat gun) to the point where it was completely defect and no output at all.
It was very easy to listen and hear the drivers sound worse and worse - at some point there was more noise / distortion than sound.
However the measurements of harmonic distortion told that the driver was performing very good even at this point.....