I've been asked to help put together a PA system for a small bar/club. I know nothing
about how to do this, other than running sound for my own bands when needed. But I'm
trying to do the best I can. It's too small a club to justify hiring a really
experienced sound engineer.
They mostly book acoustic artists, but need enough power in the PA such that when they
have a live rock band, the vocals can be heard over the din of distorted guitars, basses,
loud drums, etc. They also sometimes run DJ stuff through it, though not very loudly.
The club layout is a long, deep bar space, with the band set up near the middle, and the
audience on the sides, a low wall creating a narrow corridor at the entrance, and very
high ceilings. The walls are plaster/wood, with (very cool) art hanging on them. The
street side has an entrance and windows covering nearly its entire surface. There are side
entrances too that go to the kitchen and restaurant.
Top view here:
http://www.restivo.org/misc/topview.png
Elevation view here:
http://www.restivo.org/misc/elevation.png
They already have a nice Mackie mixer and a couple mics. They were using a set of Bag End
fill-in speakers and a Crown power amp, but that just didn't have enough power and
clarity when used with a band situation. So they just need to replace the speakers and
power amps.
It's a small room so it's not like they need any kind of massive system. But they
do want clarity and headroom, and the ability to handle the occasional rock band.
I'm thinking of recommending they buy a pair of these, and mounting them where the
existing speakers are:
http://www.guitarcenter.com/JBL-EON315-15--280-Watt-Powered-PA-Speaker-1051…
Do you think that's the right call for this room? Is that the right location for them
too? Any ideas what kind of research I should do in order to determine what would be the
right thing for them?
Way off-topic, but I've played this room and it's a wonderful space from a
vibe/attitude/audience standpoint, the people who own it are fantastic, and I want to make
sure they get the best sound possible out of it.
-ken