Need advice about PA systems

[tombikadam]

We have a restaurant, 70 m2 big, it is for max. 50 people. For live music I am considering Yamaha Stagepa 600BT and a subwoofer DB Technologies 615.

This system will be for 2 musicians, maybe for a maximum. 3. Keyboard (Arranger) + Vocal.

Do you have a better suggestion?

[BertKoor]

What's the idea? Do you want your clients to be able to have a conversation at their dinner table?

• Yes, this is a restaurant with background music. Then 600W is far overpowered. A hundred watts probably suffices for such a room, for reference: that overpowers an acoustic piano. I don't think you need that sub.
• No, we're throwing loud parties. Then it's got enough power. Rule of thumb: 10W per person in the audience. A dj will appreciate that extra sub.

As a musician I find it important it's not only loud enough, but also sounds good. Yamaha has a decent reputation: good bang for the buck, nothing fancy, not too expensive but also not cheap. I've gigged with a smaller similat setup, and it worked OK without an extra sub.

What you need is parametric EQ on each channel, preferrably two bands of it, plus of course bass & treble controls.

Also nice would be a graphical EQ on the master bus for say "room correction". The total sound is result of the whole chain: mikes, mixer, amp, speakers (position) and room acoustics. A graphical EQ is the best instrument to get the best sound.

[tombikadam]

What you need is parametric EQ on each channel, preferrably two bands of it, plus of course bass & treble controls.

Thanks a lot!, awesome reply, but I didn't understand what you mean, I am a pro musician, but in terms of equipment, I suck.

Yamaha comes with a mixer, are we talking about the settings here?, or connecting any instrument stereo? Also don't we need that sub woofer? We don't need that DJ sound.

[mixtur.se]

You need to consider transient power. For instance, for digital drums I use a 2k watt speaker. I’m not playing louder, but it it handles transients much better without choking

[BertKoor]

Yamaha comes with a mixer, are we talking about the settings here?, or connecting any instrument stereo?

Devices like the Yamaha Stagepas 600BT are called "powered mixers": a mixer with a power amp. The mixer part though is rather basic. If you look at the Stagepas 400 model, on each channel you'll find only Low & High knobs, and that's all the EQ it provides. The 600 model also has a Mid knob.

What I would want, as a seasoned sound guy, is more control over the EQ per channel by means of parametric EQ. The Mid band then gets an extra knob for the exact frequency to boost or cut, so the coloration can be tailored to the particular voice of the singer. Proper mixing consoles would have two Mid bands, giving even more control.

And that is also the pitfall: unexperienced people will be overwhelmed by the huge amount of knobs per channel and wouldn't know what knob to set at what position to improve the sound.

Also don't we need that sub woofer? We don't need that DJ sound.

Indeed, I don't think you really need the extra subwoofer.

Since "assumption is the mother of all f#ck-ups", I need to ask: don't the musicians you're going to hire have a small PA of their own? I've been in the situation too often: hired by a cafe or restaurant to play, assured they have a good PA. But upon arriving at the location finding out it's inferior to what I left at home. And no time to fetch it. Very frustrating...