Nice to know, thanks.

1. Magico I found to be very good on many points, very few weak points. But I hvae a hard time taking the price seriously. Just like Gauder. At least Magico is a lot better than Gauder. 2. I have not heard this brand that you mentioned. But I checked it out on google picture search, and it looks really good and promising. Let's hope that the sound is also very good. Very cool looking speaker. 3. Puha, metal is one of the toughest challenges. My guess is that the B&W 800 d3 would be good with those genres you mentioned. And then the Monitor Audio platinum top models. And stuff like Audiosolutions. The should all be very pleasant and pretty evolved to handle it and most other genres. Better speakers like Marten Bird 1 and Verity Sarastro struggle with metal music. It can be done, but it won't be their strength. The audio note an-e lx and lx signature should be pretty good for that. And the AN-E sec signature and AN-E sogon, I think that they would also be very good for that and stable enough. 4. Thank you. 5. If you need help, just send me an e-mail and then I could help you with some consulting. Just send me all the info you have and what you want done, then we can figure something out... 6. I don't have a top ten list for that music in particular, but the above are some good guesses.

After listening to the Verity Sarastro today, I would say that it cannot handle compressed, low quality recordings of rock or hardrock/heavy metal. The music sounds horrible on these speakers. Magico S3 MkII can do that much better. Also Suesskind Ara and Zellaton Plural Evo can handle such material despite being highly resolving. However, the Verity is truly excellent with high resolution pop and rock music like Alan Parsons, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits and Yello.

@@reinhard1888 You are right. But, when you bypass the connector at the back, and follow my instructions on my" better than bi-wire video" coupled with a good source and an ultra high end amp. Then the midrange becomes a lot more soft/deep/evolved, and the volume becomes a lot more stable. Treble also becomes a lot more voluptous/rich, and you get a better bass control. Magico is made more for normal music and costs a lot more, and gives a helping hand making bad recordings easier to digest. Sarastro is more made for the acoustic/esoteric/audiophile stuff like for example allan taylor color to the moon, or long after you're gone, or alison krauss. And most stores that demo the Verity only show about 1/5 of what they can do. It really deserves gear like Nagra or Spectral to fully max out the sound, and you need a good DAC and source like for example DAC 4 and CDT 4. Magico is made more for the normal music/gear towards the higher levels. Magico is also a really good speaker brand, but I can't take that brand serious with their prices. Just like Gauder, Wilson Audio, Rockport, Avantgarde. Also since the volume at the mid level cabinet is not nearly as big as the Magico. It actually needs to be closer to the side walls to play more stable. Yes Sarastro is very demanding, and you need to get over some hurdles to get that stable/creamy/deep sound. But when it's there, it makes Magico sometimes sound old/shut in, when you hit the gear/combination with the room just right. Plus Sarastro is a lot easier to drive, so you can actually use many tube amps on Sarastro. Most magico speakers are ahrd to drive power wise. But yeah 2 opposite speakers that are very good.

​@@reinhard1888 I just slept on the matter and thought about what you said. Here is another way of solving the problem: Buy JJ828, Tubeguru 211 se, yba a100 ampliifers used. And then just use a normal cardas middleclass speaker cable used. (1x single wire, where you still use it with the connectors on the speakers) That's about 7000 USD used together, and should make the sound a lot more warm/pleasant/easy to play those genres of music. Then you can also buy the Verity Sarastro 2 for around 12-14k USD used. That is extremely cheap! So for only around 20k USD you have a high level system, just missing a CDP or streamer with a DAC. That turns it into a speaker that is a lot more like Magico. Plus later you can do the "better than bi-wire trick" for only around 1500 USD extra for a lot more warm/rich/deepness.. That's compared to that Magico which in my country costs circa 120k USD new. And maybe 70k USD used on a good day if it is like 5 years old. In my country the Magico m6 costs about 230k USD new. And I think at only that level is the sound much better than the Sarastro with every aspect. Here is another plan for you: Let's say you want an even more warm/pleasant sound that is a lot more like the Magico m3 you mentioned. Then get the little brother Verity Amadis for around 10-12k USD used. Verity Sarastro usually doesn't like amps like lower class Pass Labs that is older, and Mcintosh transistor amps that is also a lower model or stuff like Vincent and Musical Fidelity. These amps I found should though do the trick. And for even more warm/richness that is a lot less noisy put a AN 2.1 sig DAC on, then you can use a lot more cheap CDP that you want to or streamers that are more cheap. Amadis is a lot more traditional rich/royal/round in sound. And yes find those sidewalls brings even more warmness to your music. There is also a possiblity of using AN spa19 silver speaker cable with the speaker and on the signal part. That is a very naturally warm cable that also should do the trick. Plus you can change the connectors to that. It would most likely give you a lot more musicality/layering while stabilizing the sound.

Sommercable quadra blue with viborg gold banana plugs, or if you are into a more softer/pleasant sound with maximum authenticity then audio note lx 96 with audio note banana silver plugs that the store makes for you. (way better but a bit expensive, but still great top end sound, especially with transistor gear) The first one is better value overall, and a bit more raw/harsh/fresh/forward sounding, the other is a lot more pleasant/about the ultimate authentic reproduction of voices and instruments.

@@RealHIFIHelp I am a little bit surprised! no Fancy Audio Snake oil Emperor F-35 for 25000, / m cable !? I will take your advice, thank you very much

I had a Jeff Rowland Set till now and i'm going für Boulder. Would ISIS blow uo the Frame.

Hello David I have not yet heard this modern Verity Otello. It looks like a modern copy of their older Verity Leonore in the slightlier cheaper category. It looks like it could be a good match with your mcintosh, since it is mcintosh tube amp, and since this Verity model has Furutech binding posts, making it a bit more compatible. Yes your mcintosh is plenty powerful. You only need about 50-100watts class a/b to run this Otello in a stable way. And you have more than plenty. Only thing I would be concerned about, is that your room is not too big. Knowing the Verity Leonore which is almost the same as this. I would say that this is a speaker that is perfect for a 20-30 square meter room. And I would guess that in theory you could stretch it to maybe 35 square meters. But if you room is bigger I recommend a bigger verity model. I just want to say that, generally I don't recommend Verity or Marten Design types of speakers with normal lower class mcintosh models. Since it has a tendency fighting the these brands, because Mcintosh likes to play it safe, and these do not. But since you are so lucky to have a higher model poweramp, and more importantly a tube preamp. That should make it a lot more stable/interesting. Especially if you only have about 20-30 square meters. And only about 4-7 meters from your front to back wall, that should then help you a lot. More than 7 meters on most smaller speakers, will generally create too much bass suck out, making the sound too thin and losing too much pressure. Let's hope you have less than 7m...

​@@RealHIFIHelp Thanks for responding, my apartment living room is 4m x 6m plus. It’s an open concept meaning, it opens to a dining room so it’s 4 x 10. I’m also thinking for the future, that I could build a system around these verity speakers.That I could change the Mcintosh stuff for a different sound but that would take time to experience. Finding a good dealer in Montreal that has the higher gear would be the start. Also I would want to improve the quality of my cables to bring out the best potential of the Mcintosh. Money does come into it play but as we say, I’m game! HiFi is a challenge, it’s like we are grabbing at straws sometimes. Anyways one step at a time. Thanks again

I actually don't know the versions very well. I heard a Coltrane here and there a couple of times. But I don't know if it was a mk1, 2 or 3. But I suspect that they got better with time. Only the Bird 2 is in my opinion, not quite there compared to the old Bird 1. I think that the cost of the diamond tweeter suddenly got crazy expensive, and that the Bird 1 got way too good, to fit into the Marten Design model line. Just my opinion.

The Sarastro speaker is fantastic and with Kondo gear, that is most likely a good match. I have not tried Kondo, but I tried Audio Note with it, which is similar in sound. Try the better than bi-wire video, there the tweak works especially good with this speaker, making it sound much better. And I you can't do that I recommend spa19 connector instead of the more normal connectors that are on Saraestro. (I cover this in one of my newer videos) And yes I have heard aurrender and auralics on a Sarastro, it really the potential down by a lot, so know this, that if you replace that with something like an Audio Note cd4 which is built in cd and DAC at pretty much the highest level, the sound can easily get 5x better. It is a good match with Kondo.

Hello William. I have listened to this speaker in about 50 different setups. About 5 of them where at shows. And circa 5 others were at stores. And about the rest where at some friends houses and apartments, where I had the rare opportunity to hear around 30 different amps and many more different sources and cables, power boxes and rooms. So I know this speaker very intimately. It can really change personality, depending on what you connect to it. I have also been lucky to own a Verity Fidelio that I had modified, so it came very close to sounding as good as this speaker. I have also heard the Verity Parsifal many places together with the Finn, and the old Leonore and Rienzi. And some of the others have I heard like 1 or 2 times. Lakme is the only one I have not heard yet. Generally a very good brand, way above the normal expensive speaker standard. I have not been fortunate enough to hear it at home in my own house. I would like to own it one day with the Marten Bird 1 and the Peak Consult dragon speaker, and the biggest audio note an-e model :-) I don't know Ken.