OWL Audio

Owl-Audio, Distributor / Representative for Etalon in the Benelux and Germany 
After several years of being away in the Benelux and Germany, Etalon (Hungary, Budapest) will again be represented in these Countries by Owl-Audio.

The development of a total new line of speakers and amplifiers will certainly be attractive for many inhabitants in this Area.
In the last 25 years, almost every Etalon amplifier was recognised by the audio press as an absolut reference in its class! As an example, the Origo, Examplissimo, Primo/Mono combination and the Integral amplifiers were all recognised as a "Outstanding Design or Reference" by (among other magazines) the prestigious "Le Magazine du Son de très Haute Fidélité" in France.
Regarding the new line of speakers, one could say that these are developed by probably the only person in the world who is active both as a producer of recordings and a developer of amplifiers and speakers. State of the Art woodwork (all handmade!) together with the In-home developed speaker units , using the best materials available, results in a sound you will never be able to get out of your mind again.........

Versterkers  Suprampli,  Suprampli HT,  Mono,  Duo,  Origo,    Examplissimo,  Controller,  Primo,		Speakers  Supraton 1,  Supraton 2,  Supraton 3,  Supraton 4, Supraton5,  Essence 10,  Essence 20,  Essence 30.
Most of the Etalon Amplifiers are based on a truly Balanced Design. The combination of this Balanced Design with an extremely narrow Component Selection gives rise to an unheard Quality of Sound and Fidelity, revealing total Musicality and Timbre under all possible circumstances.The integrated amplifiers are all developed with a passive pre-amp section  to minimise the amount of necessary electronics thereby approximating the "Perfect Wire" situation.To be able to accomplish a passive input, only the best components together with extremely narrow tolerances are to be used.Depending on your situation you can choose for Integrated Designs (if the speaker location is near to the Amplifier) or seperate designs if this is not the case.In the latter situation, one should minimize the distance between source and pre-amplifier and poweramplifier towards speakers as much as possible, to reach optimum results.Etalon Amplifiers can be made with a selection of the finest quality of solid natural Wooden or Aluminium Front Plates. Etalon finds it extremely important that their designs will harmonize also with your listening environment so there will be no distraction from your Musical Experience when listening to your favourite music.		Whether you listen to the Supraton or the Essence Range of speakers, Focus, Depth and Air will become immediately evident. In contradiction to most other brands of speakers, size of different types within a range do NOT change the Sound characteristics and Musical performance of the systems. The size differences are only related to the proper Acoustic Environment where they will have to perform: Bigger rooms need more Bass Radiation due to the less amount of coupling with the acoustic environment. So, basically, only the sound levels you like to use in combination with the size of your acoustical environment determine the model of your choice.Obviously, the stated roomsizes are approximate numbers and are valid for general use in common acoustical environments only.
Duo		State of the art.   Classic.

The founder of Etalon, Sallay László, started more than 25 yrs ago, next to Etalon, his own recording studio "Sonophil". He developed his own microphones, recording equipment and even the audio cable in-between. The search for true excellence is very present till today, since still many components in the amps and speakers are developed and build within Etalon. This has been proven to maintain the highest possible level of musicality and finesse in all the Etalon products!
Philosophy of Mr. Sallay is that there is only one way to judge audio equipment and this is by listening. Therefore you will not find the regular measuring data on this website but you will have to experience Etalon equipment by listening and listening only.....

So please enjoy your stay at this website and don't forget: make sure you find some time to listen...............
This might become the best Audio investment you did in your lifetime!

Cabinet maker of Etalon declared "Joiner of the Year" at Budapest International Design Exhibition.

Philosophy of Etalon by Sallay László       
In the beginning was music.... then when the musicians first stood around Edison's phonograph, and the stylus first engraved the impression of the artists' production into the wax layer circling beneath it, reproduced music was born, as a result of the human ability to (re)create....

From that moment on a dual process has accompanied the technological development of reproduced music: on the one hand a striving for ever better reproduction quality, and on the other hand people have always wished to make financial profit from the results of that improvement. Unfortunately the latter tendency has been much more pronounced, and is now a complete independent industry and plays the dominant role in the process. This is why it is important always to remember that "in the beginning was the music..." and, after the development of several decades, what one should strive for cannot be anything else than the following goal: putting the reproduction in the place of the performer, one should be able to sit down and enjoy the (re)production with the same experience as those who had the opportunity to be present at the live performance.
When listening to reproduced music, it is one's natural desire that it should not be audible that one is not listening to a live production. Satisfying this desire is an enormous challenge for anybody engaged in the industry of music reproduction. When one considers the commercial products available on the global market, the dominant trends justify the suspicion that always when the quality of the most common current technology is about to reach its culmination that a new technology makes its appearance on the market (and thus overshadows the original goal).

Instead of the prevalent technology being given the opportunity to reach its true potential, what generally happens is that its newer rival replaces it, whose quality, however, fails to come even close to that of the older technology.... It was such a change in paradigm when Compact Disc superseded LP technology, the acoustic quality of which has been unrivalled ever since, and even nowadays the best - and by no means cheap, but certainly "modern" - digital reproductions are qualified as "almost analogue sound quality"... It appears, humans would rather repeat their previous wrong steps than, learning from their failures, try to correct them. The current trends in the market seem to confirm this truth: the spreading of home cinema (by the employment of a novel technology) is in the process of ousting the former two-channel reproduction technology, instead of allowing the introduction of a modern global digital standard, which would result in a real improvement of the digital sound quality (which, to this very day, is lagging behind analogue technology as far as quality is concerned).
Inevitably behind this process there lies the profit-oriented and irrepressible manipulation of the multinational companies concerned. The following typical scenario can be observed: instead of these companies trying to remedy the shortcomings undeniably present in the prevailing technology by drawing upon their economic muscle to stimulate the market interest that has slackened as a result of these shortcomings, they throw in a new technology which, although it stimulates consumption, does not bring about an improvement in quality. Quite the contrary: in terms of quality it represents a step backwards.

Of course the appearance of home cinema, and the development of multimedia in general could also bring a real improvement in quality, but that would require a commitment to quality on the part of market forces. Looking at what is currently on offer on the market, however, it can be seen that the complete audio section of a home cinema system is on sale today at the same price as formerly a stereo system - not necessarily top quality - was available. Given rising production costs only one consequence can be drawn from this, namely that at a given price level the quality offered by the new technology can under no circumstances reach that of the older two-channel system.
Be it at a live concert or when listening to reproduced music, it can be observed that many music lovers, when listening very intently to the music, close their eyes... anybody can experience that they can hear certain minute details better if their eyes are closed. At those times one's entire attention is focussed on only one field of perception, and it is also well known that music is not created in one's ears.... This is why it can be argued that, despite all contrary arguments that can be heard in the market, simultaneous visual stimuli instead of reinforcing actually weaken the depth of musical experience, due to the division of one's attention.

In our age, people exposed to constant stress have to continually produce top performance. This can only be maintained by continuous regeneration, the most effective means of which is active listening to music. As opposed to this the constantly spreading home cinema, instead of resolving, heightens the daily level of stress, thereby perpetuating the detrimental process. In order that one can remain healthy spiritually, mentally and physically harmonious alternation of processes is necessary, in the same manner as can be experienced in nature: relaxing and tightening, exhalation and inhalation, just as winter is followed by summer, etc. In nature, if a process extends in one direction, that will terminate in an explosion. Likewise, unidirectional processes taking place in human life, if allowed to continue without any counterbalance, will end in collapse.
From what has been said above, it can be easily seen that in the case of reproduced music, if one is fully committed to life-like reproduction of the original sound then the regenerating effect of musical experience is greatly enhanced. As opposed to this the more life-like the recreation of a catastrophe or an explosion in a home cinema, the more it is going to provoke stress in the viewer. This fact in itself unveils the stark contrast between current market processes and the requirement to satisfy real human needs.
It will probably come as no surprise to you if I say that our company does not intend to participate in this field of international competition. We will retain our objective: we intend to offer equipment that, through the most life-like presentation of artistic beauty possible, serve both the mental and spiritual regeneration of their owners.

 
Owl Audio
Kekkeneind 6a 
5513 AA Wintelre 
Noord-Brabant 
The Netherlands 
Tel: +31 40 2055165 
Fax: +31 40 2055164 
E-mail: contact