Distributed Audio System: 5 Tips for Restaurant Sound Installation

Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto is playing in the background when you accidently drop your glass of frappe on the floor. A voice suddenly blares over the music asking someone to clean up the floor. The music resumes once again. A distributed audio system in your restaurant or bar is designed to serve multiple purposes. Right from background music installations and paging facilities to ensuring the appearance of prioritized audio automatically, a distributed sound system can do it all effectively. Here are a few tips for you to install distributed audio in restaurants:

Correct measurements: Make sure you are taking the measurements correctly. Generally, background music installation is not focused on high fidelity reproduction. Ideally, you should measure the height of the ceiling and multiply it two times to determine how much space should be there between the speakers. For example, a room in which the ceiling is at a height of 10 feet should have speakers at a distance of 20 feet.
 
Right balance: In distributed audio installations, 70 volt systems are installed. In this system, each speaker uses a transformer that is used to balance the sound quality. If you tap the speaker at 1 watt rather than 4 watt, the speaker will play 6db softer than the 4 watt version. This is mostly applicable in spaces where the continuous flow of music is required, like in a restaurant but at a lower volume.

Replace drop tiles: If you need to install a large number of the in-ceiling speakers, you may want to use speakers that replace the drop tiles with a tile sized assembly. No doubt, these speakers are comparatively expensive but they offer ease of installation and also look sleeker and smarter.

Manage ambient noise: An important feature of the audio system in restaurants and bars should be its ability to manage ambient noise and adjust accordingly. The gain will be adjusted up or down depending on how occupied the place is and how loud the ambience is. This is set right at the time of installation and the gain adjustment moves gradually so that it is not noticeable to the guests.

Audio matrix system: In some cases, you might need a different system in different zones. For example, you might need sports programming in the bar, high quality background music in the restaurant and background music with paging in the waiting area, then it is recommended to use an audio matrix system. This allows you to program priority sources and match source level.