JL Audio, a high-end audio solution supplier for automotive, marine and powersport OEMs, is making a strategic move into the OEM RV market.
According to Ora Freeman, JL Audio vice president of OEM sales, North America, the company identified recreational OEMS as the company’s niche several years ago. Since then, JL Audio has been executing a long-range plan to grow business in three sectors: marine, powersports and RV.
Getting a team in place
As a first step to entering the RV market, the company hired Christy Burnstine as the director of RV OEM sales for North America.
Burnstine comes to JL Audio with over 25 years of experience selling and servicing RV industry OEMs.
“We feel like there is a huge opportunity out there for us,” Freeman said. “Bringing Christy into the team now as the director of RV OEM is the realization of where we want to go. We are very confident in what we want to do and we can say to our customers, we have specific representation in each of those key OEM segments that we wanted to target.”
Most recently, Burnstine ran her own independent sales firm, CPB Solutions Sales, where she represented brands such as Command Electronics and Airxcel’s United Shade and Composite Designs, Inc. She was also president of Burnstine’s Distributing, which focused on electrical components.
“What I have always admired and respected about Christy is, she has always been a pioneer of new products into the RV space,” Freeman said. “She has developed, over the years, many great relationships and she is incredibly well-liked by the industry… She is just a really great fit for JL.”
Replicating past success
JL Audio entered the marine audio solution space in 2004 and is now represented in about 85% of marine brands, Freeman said. The company hopes to use that success as a blueprint for RV market growth.
“The JL Audio brand is well regarded among marine and powersports manufacturers, with a reputation for quality and innovation,” Burnstine said. “I feel today’s RV consumer is looking for a premium audio solution and we are poised to deliver just that.”
In five years, JL Audio hopes to have established numerous partnerships with RV brands, Freeman said.
They have made a start with Airstream.
“We’ve got Airstream in our repertoire and we are looking for like-minded partners to grow that business. We are going to look at who is the right partner in the Class A market, who is the right partner for a toy hauler brand or two, and then continue to grow into Class B sprinter vans,” Freeman said. “I am really intrigued by that. We keep seeing those numbers of Class B Sprinter vans increasing year-over-year. There is a cool lifestyle there and we think J.L. audio fits into that lifestyle.”
Freeman said he believes JL Audio can bring significant audio quality upgrades to the Type A market.
The company was founded by James Birch and Lucio Proni in 1975 as Speaker Warehouse. Proni is currently the company’s CEO and chief engineer and Andy Oxenhorn is the company’s president. Birch serves as JL Audio’s director of human resources.
JL Audio is headquartered in Miramar, Florida, where the company manufactures speaker components. Two additional engineering facilities are located in Phoenix and Portland, Oregon. The company manufactures its marine speakers and subwoofers in Florida and sources electrical components from the company’s global supply network.
