Hi,

I am an engineering student working on a project for a non-profit
organization in which they want to convert a couple of rooms into a
cafe/social room for their clients. One of the components of this
cafe/social room is a sound system, both for recorded music during the
day, as well as for hosting live groups on a weekly basis. Having
almost no knowledge about sound systems, and finding so much stuff
online that I don't even know where to begin looking, I'm wondering
what kinds of resources everyone here can suggest. I need information
about systems (speakers, amplifiers, mixers, etc), but what is more
important, I need to find something on sound theory - based on
size/shape/composition of the room, what kind of sound will be best -
pros and cons of wall-mounted speakers vs in-ceiling speakers, etc.

What kinds of resources can you suggest for me?

Thanks,
Phillip

PS - I first posted in rec.audio.opinion and they sent me here, saying
that the constraints of the situation are going to dominate the
solution that we end up providing, and that people here have more
knowledge of how to resolve the problems posed by these types of
restraints (ie, a cafe has a high ambient sound level - people
talking, etc), and that in-wall speakers will not provide optimal
sound. Having seen their response there, I ought to add that this
non-profit organization is a senior center, and the cafe that they
want to build is not a full-scale cafe. It's more converting a room
into a place that they can go to socialize, that will have a small
coffee table that they can get a cup of coffee, and not a full-size
cafe. I'm assuming that in the weekly live entertainment that these
people bring in, the atmosphere will be more concert-style: there
won't be much noise from the audience, but those are only assumptions
on my part. What can you suggest, not in the way of specific
equipment, but more generally?

PPS - I forgot - the room that we're looking at is about 460 square
feet (about 21' x 21'), so it's fairly small. The organization wants
all the main equipment there, but they also want to feed the sound
into a room that they call the Ballroom, and I don't know how big it
is.

I am an engineering student working on a project for a non-profit
organization in which they want to convert a couple of rooms into a
cafe/social room for their clients. One of the components of this
cafe/social room is a sound system, both for recorded music during the
day, as well as for hosting live groups on a weekly basis. Having
almost no knowledge about sound systems, and finding so much stuff
online that I don't even know where to begin looking, I'm wondering
what kinds of resources everyone here can suggest. I need information
about systems (speakers, amplifiers, mixers, etc), but what is more
important, I need to find something on sound theory - based on
size/shape/composition of the room, what kind of sound will be best -
pros and cons of wall-mounted speakers vs in-ceiling speakers, etc.

What sort of live groups will be coming in? Will they expect a PA
system to be ready set up, or bring their own? I suggest you wait
and see regarding this side of things. Get friendly with a local
sound-hire company, who will supply suitable gear (or compromise,
according to your budget). After a time you may get a feel for what
it would be sensible to buy. You'll maybe get offered a good deal on
second-hand gear.

As to daytime background music - you could do a lot worse than a
ghetto-blaster behind the bar. Remember that the aim is not to cover
every inch of the premises with uniform sound. Whatever music you
play, some will want to listen at high levels, some will quite like it
but want to talk as well, some will be irritated by it and look for a
quiet corner. Make sure all these are possible - you'll have happy
clients.