Now if you want your F&B outlet to turn things up a few notches and include loud or live music and vocal entertainment (comedy, drama) as a core experience of the venue, then it will need a sound system that is center stage and core to the theme and environment of the venue. A normal PA system with small distributed speakers will not cut it anymore as these will not be able to churn out the high sound levels and quality required by such a venue.

What you need now is what is called a sound reinforcement PA system that is able to produce loud and clear sound levels with multiple inputs and various controls. For a small F&B venue like a single shop lot size, or approximately 2000 sq ft, and there is a stage or performing area, we would need a dedicated PA or sound reinforcement system set up there. At the very basic, you will need a mixer to mix the inputs from various performers, and pair of powerful speakers powered by an amplifier.

A good basic mixer is necessary, being able to mix various inputs like 1-2 vocalists, 2-3 instruments, a playback source, so minimum a 5 to 6 channel mixer is necessary, with the basic controls of EQ and some effects. As for the speaker, full range speakers with minimum 12” drivers are necessary to produce sufficient bass without subwoofers, and a matching power amplifer to drive the speakers enough to cover the whole 2000 sq ft sufficiently. A minimum of 200W x 2 or more is required to do this sufficiently. And most importantly, the whole system must be capable of a full frequency spectrum up to 20kHz to ensure the best possible audio quality, a professional event sound, is produced to delivered that oomph.

Other key characteristic of such a sound system is that the system is convenient equipment maintenance. Most of the equipment are off the wall, making them easy to move or remove for any maintenance or even reconfiguration to suit a particular performance. High durability is a key factor as the system is usually run at a high level during peak performances, and this must come with proper professional tuning and signal processing to avoid mishandling.