Speaker Setup for Restaurant

[Instinctz]

Hey guys, I was wondering whats a good speaker setup for a restaurant.

What I'm looking for is speakers that can cover about 1500 sq ft area and if possible, a speaker for a hallway.

I was looking into the Polk Audio OWM3 On-wall speakers or products of that sort.

Would I need to get an av receiver? I would prefer not to need a bulky receiver.

 

[slightlyjaded]

10 minutes ago, Instinctz said:

 

When you're looking at speaker setup, I'd recommend many smaller speakers over fewer larger speakers. What you're looking for in a restaurant is a general background noise. You really don't want louder localised sound. Yes a reciever is preffered, as it makes it easier to provide power to a multitude of speakers, but I'm not an expert on them, and I'm sure some of our audio experts will chime in on what is good for this situation.

 

One thing to consider is that a good reciever can have the ability to generate zones, So the hallway might be louder than the restaurant, and you can turn the volume even lower for your two tops to generate a slightly quieter romantic dining area.

[ARikozuM]

Smaller stereo/mono speakers are better. I'm not an audio expert so I'll leave it at that.

[anothertom]

Are you looking for a single pair to cover the whole restaurant? i would suggest a multi speaker setup where they all run at a quiet level rather than a single loud pair.

 

Realistically a system like this should be run in mono, so i would suggest finding somewhere to hide a small 6 channel mixer with what ever source you intend to use. I would then feed a mono output from the mixer into a signal distribution amp like (https://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tracks_ds_2418.htm?sid=d78391e6d6fc577499dd453110fcc795) where each channel of that feeds a zone of the restaurant and can be controlled separately. Run XLR from the splitter to each zone, if you need to split to multiple speakers in a zone then a splitter cable will be fine.

 

Depending on how the building is built i'd suggest finding non-consumer wall or ceiling mount POWERED speakers (ceiling mount is nice as you can hide all power and signal lines easily), not using powered speakers will drive up cost even more. I would suggest not getting a sub, as no one is there for the music, and stick to commercial products rather than consumer.

 

>>> DO NOT try to make some home-brew rigging system<<<

 

 

[Instinctz]

41 minutes ago, anothertom said:

Are you looking for a single pair to cover the whole restaurant? i would suggest a multi speaker setup where they all run at a quiet level rather than a single loud pair.

 

Realistically a system like this should be run in mono, so i would suggest finding somewhere to hide a small 6 channel mixer with what ever source you intend to use. I would then feed a mono output from the mixer into a signal distribution amp like (https://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tracks_ds_2418.htm?sid=d78391e6d6fc577499dd453110fcc795) where each channel of that feeds a zone of the restaurant and can be controlled separately. Run XLR from the splitter to each zone, if you need to split to multiple speakers in a zone then a splitter cable will be fine.

 

Depending on how the building is built i'd suggest finding non-consumer wall or ceiling mount POWERED speakers (ceiling mount is nice as you can hide all power and signal lines easily), not using powered speakers will drive up cost even more. I would suggest not getting a sub, as no one is there for the music, and stick to commercial products rather than consumer.

 

>>> DO NOT try to make some home-brew rigging system<<<

 

 

I wasn't sure what was best for a restaurant but I guess I'll look for a multi ceiling mount speakers. 

I am not very familiar with audio equipment so could you link me a mixer that would be okay?

So from what i'm getting is that it should go Audio Source->mixer->amp->speakers

and from amp, you connect the speakers with XLR?

thanks for the help

[Dredgy]

We have about a dozen speakers mounted in the ceiling. I'll look into it and see what we used.

[anothertom]

9 minutes ago, Instinctz said:

I am not very familiar with audio equipment so could you link me a mixer that would be okay?

So from what i'm getting is that it should go Audio Source->mixer->amp->speakers

and from amp, you connect the speakers with XLR?

thanks for the help

The Yamaha mg06 would be a suitable mixer.

Yes, from the splitter to the speakers on xlr, the speakers should be powered I.e. have a built in psu, otherwise you'd need an amplifier. If in doubt, contact manufacturers, they should point you towards suitable speakers.

[slightlyjaded]

Remember, these people want to sell you a product, they like money like we do.

 

They will have preferred manufacturer's they work with, but on the flip side, those preferred manufacturers will have a product that works to the specification provided, so you don't have to worry about compatibility, or weird bugs.

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 hours ago, Instinctz said:

Hey guys, I was wondering whats a good speaker setup for a restaurant.

What I'm looking for is speakers that can cover about 1500 sq ft area and if possible, a speaker for a hallway.

I was looking into the Polk Audio OWM3 On-wall speakers or products of that sort.

Would I need to get an av receiver? I would prefer not to need a bulky receiver.

 

good old 70V pa speakers work well. Ceiling mount and you just plug more into the amp if you want more.

[anothertom]

6 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

good old 70V pa speakers work well. Ceiling mount and you just plug more into the amp if you want more.

70v is brilliant, apart from the fact it sounds like shit.

[Aniallation]

1 hour ago, anothertom said:

70v is brilliant, apart from the fact it sounds like shit.

Some store I was in had generic-looking 70v but they sounded dope

[anothertom]

15 minutes ago, Aniallation said:

Some store I was in had generic-looking 70v but they sounded dope

If it was anything inside then it probably wasn't a 70v system. Not that it isn't impossible, but it's almost exclusively used for outside areas.

[Aniallation]

3 hours ago, anothertom said:

If it was anything inside then it probably wasn't a 70v system. Not that it isn't impossible, but it's almost exclusively used for outside areas.

It was outdoors technically. Wasn't a retail "store" it was a cafe type thing

[Ahoy Hoy]

6 hours ago, anothertom said:

70v is brilliant, apart from the fact it sounds like shit.

I know your European so man up and give it a real name 100 Volt.

[Ahoy Hoy]

9 hours ago, Instinctz said:

Hey guys, I was wondering whats a good speaker setup for a restaurant.

What I'm looking for is speakers that can cover about 1500 sq ft area and if possible, a speaker for a hallway.

I was looking into the Polk Audio OWM3 On-wall speakers or products of that sort.

Would I need to get an av receiver? I would prefer not to need a bulky receiver.

 

whats budget for the hole job?
Also got a room diagram with possibly table positions

[anothertom]

2 hours ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

I know your European so man up and give it a real name 100 Volt.

To which my answer is either:

 

1. You can call it what you like mate, but that doesn't mean it runs at it.

 

2. When talking to those of different cultures I try to use terms they are familiar with, so they have the best chance of understanding.