About Sunship Audio
A passion project dedicated to building no-compromise horn-loaded loudspeakers — one craftsman's pursuit of an impeccable system.
Origins
How it started
Sunship Audio began in 2013 as a personal passion project centred on TAD-Pioneer (Technical Audio Devices) drivers. The goal was straightforward but ambitious: build a two-way horn-loaded loudspeaker system that left nothing on the table — cabinets, horns, crossovers, and driver integration all executed to the highest possible standard.
The author first encountered TAD drivers on the Paris DIY audio scene in the late 1990s. That early exposure planted a seed that would grow into a full-scale loudspeaker build years later, combining the precision of TAD's TD-4001 compression drivers and TL-1601 woofers with custom-designed bi-radial wood horns.
Philosophy
The two hardest problems
Every horn-loaded loudspeaker faces two critical design challenges: the horn itself and the crossover network. The horn and compression driver must be conceived as one integrated unit — the throat geometry, multi-cellular fin structure, and flare profile all directly shape dispersion, resonance behaviour, and frequency response. Mixing and matching off-the-shelf horns with drivers rarely delivers coherent results.
The crossover is equally unforgiving. A time-aligned, high-order passive design demands painstaking component matching, low-distortion inductors, and construction techniques that preserve signal integrity. At Sunship Audio, every crossover part is paired within 0.5%, individually glued and zip-tied, and wired point-to-point on 12 mm plywood boards using Mundorf Supreme silver/gold solder.
Influences
Paris DIY scene & Japanese Jazz Kissa
Two cultural threads run through the Sunship Audio story. The first is the Paris DIY audio community of the late 1990s, where TAD drivers earned a reputation among builders who valued uncompromising engineering over commercial convenience. The second is Japan's Jazz Kissa culture — intimate listening bars where meticulously curated record collections meet horn-loaded systems in spaces designed purely for the enjoyment of music.
A 2013 trip to Tokyo brought these influences into sharp focus. Visits to Jazz Kissa Bigboy, Kenrick Sound, and Disk Union Jazz in Jimbocho reinforced the conviction that a great listening experience is as much about atmosphere and intention as it is about technical performance.
The loudspeakers
Built without compromise
Each Sunship loudspeaker pair is custom-made. The cabinets use double-layered Birch Plywood — a full 2 inches (5 cm) thick — with front-to-back bracing for exceptional rigidity. The bi-radial wood horns weigh 22 kg each and are milled from solid plywood, making them effectively non-resonant. A multi-cellular throat with vertical fins controls dispersion, delivering what the builder describes as a "four-seater" sweet spot rather than a single narrow listening position.
The complete speaker pair weighs around 300 kg. Every element — from the TAD TD-4001 compression drivers and TL-1601 woofers to the Goertz foil inductors on the high-frequency section and H-core inductors on the low-frequency section — reflects a refusal to cut corners.
Get in touch
For inquiries about Sunship Audio, the loudspeakers, or the listening room in Berlin, reach out by email:
sunshipaudio at gmail dot com