I wonder how many ASR members deliberately buy into such severely non-linear types of drivers to get a particular sound effect they just can't get with most conventional designs of today. I know many still have turntables and tube amps.
I don't know that I'm "deliberately looking for distortion in speakers" as, at least intellectually, I like the idea of competently built/designed, neutral, low distortion speakers. And I have owned, and currently own, speakers I'd fit in to that category.
On the other hand, I can't help noticing that I have also truly enjoyed speakers that have been disparaged as "incompetently designed and colored."
Ultimately for me it's what I enjoy listening to, however things shake out.
I was reminded of this when I was comparing speakers in my listening room last night. I have a very old pair of Thiel 02 speakers, very cheap speakers even in their time, no fancy time/phase coherence stuff, just drivers in a cheap box. I can hear that they are not perfectly neutral, a bit of a emphasis here, slight suck-out there, they can show a bit of roughness in the treble, and the box rings like a bugger with the slightest music signal. But I'll be damned if they have not consistently amazed me year after year, even when compared to much more expensive, more neutral/damped/controlled speakers including ones I currently own and ones I have heard. Sound has a sense of density, punch, palpability and texture that makes the instruments and voices just sound RIGHT THERE happening in the room, to a degree I've rarely experienced elsewhere.
Even enamored as I am with my far more expensive and elaborate Thiels, and my new Joseph Audio speakers, these little old speakers can still shock me when I throw them in to the system. Their presentation seems to "wake up" the musicians and give a "live" sensation that is extremely compelling. ( I have experienced similar things with other speakers desparaged as colored ).