As for distortion, any time anything fails to swing as far as it "wants to" for whatever reason, it's distortion. If you ended up clipping the input circuit or amp in the monitors in any meaningful amount it would probably be a harsh kind of crackling noise on transients.
But it almost sounds like there's some sort of limiter circuit protecting your monitors. That might be why when you "push your luck" it seems to get quieter. It would distort, and possibly hurt the speakers themselves, but it turns the whole thing down instead to protect itself. That's just wild speculation, but it's my first guess re: that particular symptom.
What I was trying to say is that it is probably better to turn down everything but 60Hz (or wherever you feel you need that bump), which is the same thing as turning up 60Hz and then turning the rest down, except I think better for the reasons I outlined previously.
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