Who is Martial Hernandez and why has he run the Von Schweikert and VAC room at the Munich show for the last couple of years? I met Martial for the first time last year–Damon Von Schweikert introduced him as “our European friend who has an incredible collection of rare music that he likes to play.” He’s a true music lover, in other words, with exquisite tastes and the patience needed to play music in the same room for four straight days.
Words and Photos by Marc Phillips
Martial Hernandez is certainly one strong reason for spending plenty of time in this room–I’m always hearing tracks that make me want to resuscitate that old Shazam app on my phone, even though it’s unlikely that these rarities will be properly identified. Another reason, however, was the presence of the Von Schweikert Audio VR-55 Special Edition loudspeakers with the Foundation/ARC bass controller ($85,000/pr USD). The original VR-55 was the very first VSA loudspeaker I’ve heard, and it made a heck of an impression–I’ve been a VSA fan ever since. This new version is very, very close to what you’d hear in the VSA Ultra line for a fraction of the price.
I’m glad I stopped by a second time to hear the Martial Hernandez Show since the VSA and VAC team had swapped out the VR-55s for the VSA Endeavor Special Edition speakers ($27,000/pr) which I reviewed a few years ago. These are the sleepers of the VSA line, with plenty of that superb DNA present in these relatively affordable speakers. Sure they had plenty of VAC firepower supporting them–two VAC Signature 202 iQ Musicbloc amps ($24,750 each), a VAC Master Line Stage ($33,750) and a VAC Master MM/MC phono option ($16,875). But the sound of the ESEs came very close to what you’d hear from a six-figure pair of speakers.
Together with an Aurender W20SE streamer/server, an Esoteric Grandioso K1x SACD player and an analog front end consisting of an Acoustic Signature Typhoon NEO ($17,995), TA-5000 tonearm ($7,895) and a Hana Umami Red ($3,950), Martial had a playback rig that most DJs can only dream about. I can’t wait to hang out here next year.
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