Michael,
I went from a $100,000 pair of Kharma Exquisite Diamonds to the Verity Sarastro II and I can ASSURE you without any doubt that they will do rock at real world volumes. As far as their bass goes, this is where set-up is crucial and, as Cenline points out, your choice of amplifiers. My room is 14' x 18' x 8' and heavily treated, I use Lamm M1.2 Reference monoblocks and I have no problem getting articulate clean bass from them.
I went from a $100,000 pair of Kharma Exquisite Diamonds to the Verity Sarastro II and I can ASSURE you without any doubt that they will do rock at real world volumes. As far as their bass goes, this is where set-up is crucial and, as Cenline points out, your choice of amplifiers. My room is 14' x 18' x 8' and heavily treated, I use Lamm M1.2 Reference monoblocks and I have no problem getting articulate clean bass from them.