Hi, I really hope someone can help, I need to know what the very minimum amp/pa you would use for a hall with up to 50 people in. they don't mind if it's not too loud but I don't want to get drowned out. I've got a the mixing desk, ect. (even the lights) but I was banking on using the singer in my bands Pa. But now I'm getting worried it won't sound right or be loud enough it's a standard mono vocal pa system, I have to check the watts (i'm a drummer,enough said right) I also have a stereo home amp which is 2x 90w any good? Any help grately taken,

thanks,
bob.

Hi, welcome to the Forum.

Firstly you can never have enough P.A - the more headroom the better, but a lot does depend on your budget and the type of gigs that you will be doing. Ideally you should start off with a minimum and work your way up as required, should you start doing larger gigs you can upgrade, but if you stick with the smaller vilage hall / pub gigs then your first system should last you for many years - if you choose it correctly!.

Okay unfortunately, the minimum doesn't include the use of Hi-Fi equipment for professional use. This is not recommended at ALL. Hi-fi equipment is just that, for use at home at relatively low power levels, it isn't meant to be run continuously at its full output for hours at a time. You will probably also find that the rated output is a Maximum figure and not an RMS. Even 90W RMS x 2 will easily get lost in a noisy venue with say 50 people chattering.

Vocals also need headroom, in order to pitch above instruments (Drums for example ) and to allow for high notes. There is nothing worse than distortion during high notes for example, simply because you amp / speaker configuration can't cope.

For P.A use, even for small venues & pubs you need to be looking at around 250W x 2 or even better 2x 300W to start. Obviously the more power that your budget can stand the better. Even professional Powered mixers (Mixers with built in Power Amps) start at around 2x 200 - 300W output!.

I'm not a big fan of powered speakers, but they do have a place in live music applications, when you are looking to expand then you may be better looking to buy either the mentioned powered mixer, or active (Powered) loudspeakers. These are usually the norm for live music.

So to start with, forget the Hi-Fi amp, even hire some louder gear if you have to!, but with regard to purchasing you will need to look at around 500W - 600W total, at least.

thats great, thanks for the quick responce, I didn't think the home amp thing was a real solution and wasn't keen on blowing it up I'll look into what I can afford, beg steal or borrow and check out the links you gave me.

again, many thanks you've stopped me looking very foolish