Recommend speakers for a restaurant sound system

Ripping your CD collection to play in a commercial establishment doesn't sound like a good idea from a rights/licensing POV. So reserve some of that money for proper licensing fees (or lawsuit settlements!).

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003815486_royalty01.html

I do appreciate good audio and good lighting and all the things that make up great restaurant ambience. A good audio experience in a restaurant comes from good acoustics and noise control, then good song selection and proper VOLUME settings. Commercial use equipment is designed for ruggedness not high end sound. You'll have all sorts of waiters and bartenders getting their greasy mitts all over the controls in a fairly messy environment - get something rugged and reliable designed for commercial use - with multiple zone volume controls, PA/mic override so you can make announcements over the music - you may not need that. Crown amps come to mind ...http://www.crownaudio.com/ca.htm Good luck and cheers!

Jkeniley,

I still don't get it. You want a high performance system for very low cost (8 speakers and subs etc etc. no less with audiophile quality but industrial ruggedness and all for mere 5 to 7K!!). It does not exist. Panels would be just plain silly. The reason I suggested the cheap robust and relatively good sounding JBL EON 510 - at 600 bucks a pop eight of these would cost you 5K leaving some money for wall mounts and a mixer and perhaps one EON 518S subwoofer (since these speakers all come with built in crown amps).

I think you may need to come down to earth - audiophile like quality in sound systems for commercial venues is actually extremely expensive. You could stick some audiophile speakers in your pub but unless you have complete control on your staff (probably students) I bet they will be blown after the first month. I could recommend some great systems such as what they have at Ronnie Scott's Jazz club in London but your are looking at mega-bucks.

Parasound is an excellent choice for your application for preamp and especially power amps. I recommend their new classic line to my pro customers. Also look at Mogami raw cable. They make a co-ax speaker cable that is very open sounding and inexpensive.

Gdoodle - you are correct that playing copyrighted music in a commercial setting will require a license from ASCAP/BMI to do so - but to clarify, it is the playing (the performance), not the ripping that is the issue. I would have the same issue if I decided to read aloud my copy of Harry Potter to the restaurant clientele as a regular event.

I also think that a nice sound system is generally wasted in a restaurant setting given the volumes.

Funny story - there is a a chain of sandwich/baked-goods restaurants in my area and I noticed that they had Bose mini-speakers located throughout one of the local stores. One day, I was sitting in the back corner of the restaurant on the end of a set of bar stools (where no one often sits unless it is very crowded). I kept hearing this thumping noise. It was sort of a one beat thump, very distorted and "one note". After I finished eating, I looked around and up in the corner mounted against the ceiling was the Bose subwoofer to accompany the mini-speakers positioned at the front of the restaurant. Hilarious.

If it were my business, I'd subscribe to XM radio service, which has fantastic variety and is available very inexpensively. ASCAP/RIAA are actually quite aggressive about collecting royalties for unauthorized commercial use of copyrighted music (I know a number of businesses which have been thus hassled).