Airstream, the storied RV company known for its retro-looking chrome campers, is coming out with a new model line later this year that will be built with speaker technology from a Chicago startup.
Resonado Labs, a maker of proprietary flat core speaker technology, is designing the speakers for Airstream’s 2022 Touring Coach model line. The new line represents the first implementation of this kind of speaker tech in an automobile.
Founded in 2017 by Brian Youngil Cho, Peter Moeckel and Erikc Perez-Perez while students at the University of Notre Dame, Resonado has built slim and lightweight speaker technology that takes up less space than traditional models. In automobiles, like the new Airstream line, Resonado can place its speakers in ceilings, headrests and other small areas, without sacrificing sound quality, Perez-Perez said.
“What we’re enabling car companies to do is have a solution that enables them to take advantage of thinner spaces to be able to give a far more immersive experience,” Perez-Perez said. “You can put more speakers in tight spaces that are able to actually be directed more towards your ears as opposed to pointed at your legs.”
The founders built the company at Notre Dame’s IDEA Center, and later spent a summer in Silicon Valley participating in 500 Startups, an early-stage venture fund and seed accelerator. But when the company was looking for a permanent headquarters, the founders chose the Windy City.
“Chicago was a lot more hardware-friendly,” Perez-Perez said.
Now, Resonado is a member at the city’s hardware startup organization, mHub, and working to license its tech with more B2B clients.
Resonado’s first product was actually a consumer-facing, portable Bluetooth speaker, called the Mini-O. Resonado raised more than $15,000 in a Kickstarter campaign in 2017 to get the product off the ground. It was advertised as a “powerful, pocket-sized speaker,” and was later sold on Amazon for $60.
“We launched it as a proof of concept—to sort of introduce the technology to the market,” Perez-Perez said. “It highlighted our form factor.”
Resonado later discontinued the speaker, and switched to making speakers for B2B clients.
Now aside from vehicles, Resonado envisions its speaker tech being used in home audio systems, being placed in walls, ceilings and other tight spaces, Perez-Perez said. Resonado is also building versions of its speaker technology that could be used in sound bars and towers.
Resonado has a team of eight people and has so far raised $2.2 million in funding. Investors include Notre Dame, Catapult Ventures, Queen City Angels, 500 Startups, Lofty Ventures and VisionTech Partners.
