Mr. Hiroyuki Yamada is a potter and speaker artist. With his 30 years of experience, he makes gorgeous speaker pottery enclosures. Knowing that the shape makes the sound, he has established a unique form of back-loaded horn sticking to the structure. By making the sound resonate, he is trying to make the most of the unique vibrations of ceramics to create a sound quality that has never existed before.
It is no exaggeration to say that Japanese ceramic art is unprecedentedly diverse and continues to be at the forefront of the world in terms of perfection and precision. Ceramic speakers using Mr. Hiroyuki Yamada’s techniques are a work of art as well as high level audio equipment.

Ceramic back-loaded horn speaker
The main design of Mr. Hiroyuki Yamada is a backload horn pottery speaker named Cave340. Unlike other speaker systems, a backload horn is a speaker with a long cave for sound created to maximize the sound behind the speaker unit, and its shape and internal structure add depth to the sound.

The speaker itself can have different shapes, cubes, spherical, etc., Most of them use a bass reflex or closed speaker system, and are greatly influenced by the performance of the speaker unit itself. However, with a backload horn, not only the speaker unit itself but also the internal structure of the enclosure (the box to which the speaker unit is attached) has a great effect on the sound quality. The internal structure is a long cavern structure called a sound path. Made with clay, it can be shaped freely, making it possible to create a flexible and organic structure for the sound path.

The speakers are made using a traditional pottery technique, called hand-twisting, in which clay is piled up in order from bottom to top to form a shape. A sound path of up to 3m is created on the wall inside the enclosure. By letting
the sound hidden inside, the sound is expanded mainly in the low range, creating a sound quality with depth and transparency.
Think of the structure of a wind instrument. The sound of a wind instrument changes depending on its length and thickness. It is said that the length of the tube of an instrument that produces low sounds like the tuba is up to 10m. The backload horn Mr. Hiroyuki Yamada makes uses this principle to create a deep bass sound by passing through a long cave.

A typical wooden backload horn has a sound path length of 100 to 180 cm, but some of the speakers Mr. Hiroyuki Yamada makes have a sound path length of up to 340 cm. The inherent high frequency of the pottery makes the upper register resonates, while the long cavern structure elongates the lower register. You can hear unique vibration sounds not found in wooden or resin speakers, and the natural amplification of sound waves makes the sound feel more lively. It is especially suitable for listening to live tones such as jazz and classical music.
The speakers are Bluetooth-compatible and you can enjoy music directly from your smartphone. You can enjoy this art piece with your five senses. This ceramic speaker “Cave340” is produced with the desire to create art pieces that can actually enrich our lives, rather than art pieces for the collection.