Justin Wagner opened a shop specializing in marine audio in 2001 with only a few hundred dollars to his name. Now he owns a marina in the Ozarks, a full service marine audio/restoration shop, and a marine audio company called Bluave, which is expanding its dealer base and starting to move into OEM supply.
Wagner was running his shop, “Waves and Wheels,” when he found there weren’t many options for marine audio solutions and he was often building one off accessories for each project. So he began manufacturing marine solutions called “Waves and Wheels solutions,” including subwoofer enclosures, speaker pods, and spacers.
To be clear Wagner did have some experience in product development. Before he opened Waves and Wheels he was a USACi competitor, which led to his recruitment by Orion, where he served as a technical advisor and where he worked “with a few of the guys on R&D,” he said.
By 2015 Waves and Wheels had grown into a 20,000 square -foot facility offering marine audio, lighting, upholstery, paint and fabrication. That was the same year Wagner made the move to take the product line to the next step and launched Bluave Marine Audio, now offering coaxial speakers and an M10 marine subwoofer.
A few years later, Wagner picked up a marina. “My wife and I were out on a boat ride and there happened to be a marina for sale down from our house at the time. We have so much going on, but we both had this tremendous feeling it was what we’re supposed to do. Six months later we owned it. ” Waves and Wheels & Bluave Marine Audio is now located in the marina location. There’s a fabrication shop, an upholstery shop, a gas dock, Bluave warehouse, assembly factory and about 30 boat slips. The marina can store about 100 boats total. Boaters can pull up to the marina and enter the Waves and Wheels shop to buy audio.
Bluave now offers two full lines of marine audio speakers, subwoofers, amplifiers and loaded enclosures. It doubled its sales each year for the last four consecutive years (for which Wagner credits his hard working staff and network). The company has pursued a path of controlled growth, limiting its dealers in years past, but is now in the process of a major expansion.
The company has partnered with manufacturer reps including Integrity Marketing, Vault Marketing, RPM Marketing, Santa Fe Distributing, Creative Car Audio and it just signed on CPS Distributors. Bluave plans to continue to expand its network. It also expects to announce some OEM deals shortly.
Key Bluave products include an X-line X10 free air subwoofer, also available loaded in the X-MSE poly enclosure. It has a 250 watt power handling at $649. A step up M series version has a retail price of $849.
Bluave coaxial and tower speakers such as the XT-65x T-71 and T-91 play at a wider range than traditional drivers, said Wagner.
