I need to setup audio in a Community Center for a religious function.

- the hall is approx 2000 sq.ft in size ( 8-9 ft ceiling ); about 225 people

- there will be mostly speeches and music. ( no loud music like rock etc. )

My questions :

- Can I use a home theater system for this ? Maybe two home theater system ?

- How many Watts of power will be required ?

- How do I test the system ? I understand testing the system in empty hall will be much different when there are over 200 people ?

All replies will be appreciated .

There are people on these forums who can help (myself included), but you'd probably be better served going to the forums somewhere like here:

http://www.prosoundweb.com/

These boards focus on home theater gear and what you're looking for is pro audio. To answer a couple of your questions, you don't want a home theater system for this purpose and it sounds like wattage will be among the least of your worries.

I concur - you're looking at pro audio. Equipment designed for home use may not necessarily work out well in a large public space. On top of that, there may be additional safety code design issues to be aware of.

Try to find a local expert through your city's small business bureau or among the church (possibly free help that way).

- Steve O.

Or try the newsgroup "alt.audio.pro.live-sound".

Generally use twice the power and twice the subwoofers you think you may use to overcome hallways and higher ceilings. A third sub for headroom may help as well. The Servodrive site use to post a acoustic calulator that helped in the design process get the right amount of SPL to fill the right cubic feet of space. Even if you only want public address and light background music you need headroom.