JL Audio

Formation

JL Audio was founded in 1975 by James Birch and Lucio Proni. They used the first letter of each of their names, to form a company name, hence "JL." Their first products were home speaker systems as well as home speaker kits.

Speaker Warehouse

In 1977, when business did not turn out as well as expected, Stephen Seidl, Birch and Proni invested in a retail store in Hollywood, Florida, called Speaker Warehouse which focused mainly on speaker repair and the sale of speakers, individually or as whole speaker sets. The original company, JL Audio, was still in operation during this time. As the businesses grew, Speaker Warehouse essentially became a dealer of JL Audio products under the direction of Stephen Seidl.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, as the car audio revolution was starting to take place, Speaker Warehouse was a big seller of the early pioneering car audio products. Stephen Seidl, Birch and Proni used their knowledge of speakers and audio to experiment with these systems, especially with component systems with subwoofers. By the early 1980s, Speaker Warehouse had become known as a place to go for high-end audio in South Florida.

PowerWedges: Compact, enclosed full-range speaker systems made by JL Audio in the early 1980s. One of the first enclosed speaker systems ever in the car audio market.

8W2: Eight-inch woofer for use in the new line of JL Audio PowerWedges. Following that design, subsequent 10- and 12-inch speaker systems were also released which were as well received as the 8-inch.

The W3 Series: These subwoofers come in five different sizes ranging from the 6-inch to the 18-inch. Each component subwoofer has the option of being 2-ohm, 4-ohm, or 8-ohm. The W3 series showcases the DMA optimized motor system and an elevated frame cooling.

The W5 Series: Higher-powered speakers that were received incredibly well when released in 1987.