Iconic Indian Hi-Fi Brands – The Story of Sonodyne

Until the 1970s, the audio industry in India was dominated by international brands and collaborations such as Philips, Bush, and HMV. Radio sets were still the primary focus, and although turntables, amplifiers, and other products were manufactured, these products were only designed with casual listeners in mind. With imported units being prohibitively expensive for most enthusiasts, the first wave of Indian Hi-Fi had to be evoked by music loving indigenous entrepreneurs – one of these was Ashoke Mukherjee of Sonodyne.  

Sonodyne was founded in Calcutta in 1970 by Ashoke Mukherjee and Ashok Aikat with a government loan of 2.7 lakh. Mukherjee was a graduate of IIT Roorkee and a keen audio enthusiast who had been designing and building his own amplifiers and speakers. An early product was the Jet-Line stereo amplifier with matching speaker set – with Indian music lovers clamoring for a serious Hi-Fi system at an attainable price for years, it proved to be an instant success.

By the mid ‘70s, Sonodyne had managed to get international audio icon Subir Pramanik on board as an adviser. Educated in Pune and then London, Pramanik had gained recognition for his work at Bang & Olufsen in the mid ‘60s. He instilled his philosophy of transparent, uncolored sound reproduction upon Sonodyne engineers such as Abhijit Ghose, who went on to head the company’s export design lab in Bombay.

By the end of the ‘70s, Sonodyne had attained a cult status. The Jet-Line had been replaced with the Super Jet-Line, and higher end offerings such as the SC-1020 and matching Spectrum 5000 speaker set had hit the market as well.

Sonodyne realized the value of the source in a Hi-Fi signal chain – thus the amplifiers and speaker systems were complimented by their high quality direct-drive turntables. The RP-3000D and later the RP-4000D were among the most advanced turntables available in India, featuring high quality S Shaped tone-arms and moving coil cartridges. 

The company foresaw the cassette tape revolution of the ‘80s, and before the start of the decade, they were ready with their cutting-edge decks featuring Dolby Noise Reduction, electronic speed control, and analogue VU meters. “Ampli-Decks” combing a high-power stereo amplifier as well a cassette deck were also introduced, and proved to be hugely popular.

By the mid ‘80s, the international trends in audio were shifting towards sleek micro-component systems with soft touch controls. Sonodyne responded with the Uranus, a complete compact Hi-Fi featuring a turntable, AM/FM Tuner, cassette deck, graphic equalizer, power amplifier, and the SX-606 bass reflex speaker set. The Uranus became a status symbol during ‘80s.

In the early ‘90s, as economic liberalization saw increased competition from large multinationals, Sonodyne shifted focus to pro-audio equipment for the export market where the company’s products were well received. Sonodyne products are now used by numerous critically acclaimed sound engineers such as Joshua Blair .

(Bruno Mars, Beyoncé, Duran Duran) and Eddie Kramer (The Beatles, David Bowie, Eric Clapton) – a great testament to India’s audio heritage.

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