Audio Setup For A Bar

[gregosorio]

I am setting up an audio system for a bar I'm starting and want to know if the equipment I'm considering is adequate. As the bar is located in Ghana, West Africa, I can't find any good sound professional to hire for this setup, so I must seek advice from this forum. I hope someone can be of assistance.

Most of the time, the sound system will play light bar music and audio from the tvs, but it will occasionally need to be loud enough to give a club feel for loud music and dancing.

I'm trying to stay within a budget of $5,000 for materials and that includes the mixer, equalizers, speakers and woofers.

I've chosen JBL speakers and Behringer amps/equalizer due to their relatively low price and good reviews.

Attached is the floor plan of the room. It is approximately 1,000 square feet. All of the walls are constructed of cement and covered in plaster. The floors will be parquet wood and the plaster ceilings are 10' high. On 3 of the walls, there is no windows. The main entrance is floor to ceiling glass, including the doors and is approximately 17' wide. The top left corner that is slanted will contain the dj booth with all the sound controls.

I am considering installing (8) JBL Control 1 Pro Loudspeakers as the main speakers (image attached). I plan to wall mount them around the room, 9' high. 1 in each corner and 1 in the middle of each wall.

For the bass, I am considering either using (2) JBL SS88IWS wall mounted subs (image attached) or (1) JBL EON 518S 18-inch 500-Watt Self-Powered sub (Image attached).

To power this system, I'm considering using (2) Behringer iNuke NU3000 Power Amps (image attached). For the equalizer, I am looking at the Behringer Ultragraph Pro FBQ1502.

The system will be controlled using a Pioneer DDJ-SX.

As I am not a sound professional, I want to know if this system sounds like a good one. And if not, what changes or additions do I need to make to the setup to achieve my desired sound quality.

Thanks a lot for any advice you may offer.

 

[ranjeetrain]

Hello gregosorio,

Welcome to HFV.

Your plan sounds like a well thought out plan. But it's quite inadequate if you think about it deeply. An installation like this definitely warrants professional assistance. I do strongly recommend hiring a consultant if you can.

The equipment you buy depends on a lot of factors. You have a healthy budget and that should be able to get you good sound for your bar. But the equipment you buy and the way you hook and place them will require very meticulous planning.

I do see you are quite methodical so I'll give you some pointers to think over. If it helps you eliminate the need of a consultant nothing better than that.

Ask yourself these questions.

(1) Do you want to provide your guests with a nice soothing background music, or do you want them to help rock the floor?

You can't do them both with the same setup without extremely carefully choosing the equipment. Your current selection of gear won't do any of the two well.

(2) How good the sound do you want to get?

Beyond the basic setup, you will need to strategically place the speaker boxes to eliminate reflections/reverbs. You may also have to install different types of diffusers/absorbers if you can't get the optimum placement. Even with optimum placements, you may end up with loud and quite zones within the hall. So speaker placement would be extremely critical.

Some general comments based on your post:

In your current plan, you will be able to fill your space with acceptable sound. It should be okay for a typical bar kinda environment. However, it's not going to give sound that will give anyone any goosebumps.

In an environment like this it will be almost impossible to get audiophile grade sound. But the best you can do is - choose better speakers and choose more of them. More number of speakers will allow for creating louder and quiter zones with much greater control. Also, I'd suggest get ceiling speakers and go for concealed installation if you have the room. With 10 feet height I am assuming you are not going to have a false ceiling? If you are, get ceiling speakers.

Place one of the subs in the space between the door and the DJ console. If the subs are front firing, the other one should be in the middle of the counter, concealed under the table. If they are down firing, the second one can be on the sidewall between the counter and the door, somewhere halfway.

 

[efernand1]

Hi

There are tons of reviews and videos on the net when it comes to selecting or shortlisting the speakers or system to use....my advice is to go and audition a few which would appeal to your listening / appearance requirements and ofcourse your budget.

There are a lot of good powered speakers available in the market and you need to ensure that the speakers (cones) are of high quality to last longer as you would not be in a position to clean them everyday...speakers are often exposed to moisture, dust etc...one needs to consider all this.

You can hookup these powered speakers to a decent mixer which a DJ later in future can use....a microphone can be connected for announcements...song requests.....perhaps live music at some point in time...

The EON series is good....look out for speakers which can deliver the maximum sound frequencies (20hz -20khz) and have good after sales or warranty.

Hope this helps...