Not all sound systems are alike. However, most consist of several vital components: a source, a mixer, an amplifier, and speakers. While you certainly desire a cost-effective bar or restaurant sound solution, you must strike a balance between price and quality. And if you don’t have much experience or knowledge about sound systems, this can be a little tricky. What’s more, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with so many options on the market today.
If you haven’t yet read part one of our sound system guide, you may want to check it out. We’ve broken down various sound system components, how they work, and how they contribute to the overall sound in your establishment. This short guide picks up where part one left off. Keep reading to learn more about available options for your restaurant sound system, from simple multiple speaker setups to full systems with speakers, amps, and mixers.
Restaurant Sound System Options
As a bar or restaurant owner, you’re not just offering great food and drinks. You’re also selling a total experience. Delivering the best possible service and ambiance are critical to creating this experience for your patrons.
The sound quality provided by your audio system plays a large role in making a pleasant environment. In fact, it can make or break your patrons’ enjoyment. With a system that delivers reliable performance, diners and visitors may pleasantly notice the music and relax while savoring their food and drink. But a shoddy system with bad sound quality is sure to annoy and irritate your customers. Let’s take a look at some restaurant and bar sound system options that may work best for your establishment.
The Good Option
You’ve probably seen old-school systems that use in-ceiling speakers or small cone-shaped features. With proper setup, they put out a respectable amount and quality of sound. They’re ideal for use in two specific environments: small intimate spaces or super-large spaces.
The rationale for using these speakers in a small space is pretty obvious. If you have a small coffee shop, for instance, you may only need one or two units to achieve full sound coverage. But what about the large space? That seems a bit contradictory, right? But considering that you have a low price per unit, these speakers are an economical option when you need to install a lot of them in a large interior area. Installing them in uniform distance intervals is key to getting the best overall sound quality and coverage.
The Better Option
High-quality speakers are good, but an amp plus speakers? That’s even better. Ideally, your restaurant sound system would contain multiple inputs and a single output. With this setup, you’d broadcast the same audio throughout your interior space. However, you also want to control the volume inside each zone. You also must have even volume levels throughout the whole space, with a variance of no greater than 10 decibels.
This option works best in dining spaces measuring between 4,000 and 5,000 square feet. However, you need high-quality speakers to get the best sound. By choosing better speakers, you’ll enjoy higher fidelity as well as limiting audio hotspots. Whether you choose it as a restaurant or bar sound system option, this setup is also easily scalable should you need more or less coverage.
The Best Option
If your budget allows for it, your best bet is a more advanced restaurant sound system. This setup typically includes an amp equipped with digital sound processing. With it, you’ll also receive a premium-quality sound mixing board that supports multiple inputs and outputs. You’ll have the ability to control both audio and volume zones within your space. This solution is ideal if you frequently use multiple input sources.
Bay Area Restaurant & Bar Sound Systems
Thanks for reading part two of our restaurant sound system guide! Hopefully, you should now have an added understanding of how different system configurations can meet your needs. You likely also have a better sense of your options for installing a new system or upgrading your existing one to support your goal of creating a great experience for your customers.
For more than 45 years, Performance Audio has delivered professional video and audio solutions to residential and commercial clients in the San Francisco Bay area. We specialize in a large range of services, including home theater systems, surveillance, smart home systems, and media systems for restaurants, offices, retail spaces, and more. We’d love to show you how we can provide the best AV solution that meets your needs. Get in touch with us by completing our contact form or calling our offices at (415) 441-6220.
Image Source: moxumbic / Getty Images
