There is a sound revolution brewing in Chennai. It’s pretty muted, but we guess it won’t be long before the rest of the country hears of the Torvin brand of speakers. We heard some of their stuff recently in Chennai, and we are convinced that with a little more market savvy, Torvin can make quite a splash in the market.

Torvin Audio Systems (TAS) is the brainchild of M J Thankachan, who runs Power Electronic Industries (PEI), one of the biggest service centers for

A/V products in Chennai. Thankachan set up his own service center after years of working as a service engineer with Philips. Having always been passionate about the aesthetic and physical aspects of audio and video products, he clubbed hands-on experience with A/V equipment and his passion to create something new. The first Torvin speaker was produced over a decade ago. Since then, he has gone on to manufacture a range of speakers. His latest is the Millennium range, named after the year of its birth.

The tall standing Millennium speakers are impressive both visually and sonically. When we auditioned the Millennium at Torvin’s offices, we subjected the speakers to a torture test and they performed impeccably. The setup for the audition wasn’t reference grade, and we were using an off-the-shelf LD player connected to an A/V receiver for the purpose. The room was untreated. First in was a LD pressing of ‘ Terminator 2’ and the Millenniums faithfully translated the slam and punch of the action sequences. The bass and mid-bass were tight and had thud and the higher frequencies had zing. The sound didn’t distort, no matter how much power we fed the speakers. Next in was a CD, Mani Ratnam’s ‘Alai Payuthe’, where the vocals sounded solid and well modulated. For a more sober feel, Mr. Thankachan slipped in a devotional recording of K J Yesudas. It is here that the Millenniums really came into their own, suggesting that they are best for sober listening. The baffles of the five-feet tall Millenniums are made of 19mm thick compressed wood. The inside of the baffle has sufficient internal bracing and is treated and damped to reduce box resonance. The Millennium comes with ball-shaped bottom bushes instead of spikes and Thankachan says that the design effectively isolates the speakers while providing extra stability. At the back of the speakers, one can find gold-plated binding posts and these can be custom-designed to be normal and bi-wirable.  The Millennium uses 12dB Linkwitz cross-overs, and a total of seven drivers including one eight-inch woofer, four numbers 5 inch mid-bass drivers, one four inch midrange driver and one one-inch fabric dome-tweeter. All drivers are ferro-fluid cooled and all cone papers are polymer coated. Peerless Fabrikkerne supplies drivers for the Torvin and also helps test and evaluate the finished product.