How to choose a PA system for your band (speakers, subs, mixer and monitors)

The bar booked you, the band is tight, and then the owner says the words: "We don't have a PA, bring your own." Now you're in a group chat at midnight arguing about watts. Figuring out how to choose a PA system for your band is one of those jobs nobody signs up for, because the specs on the box don't map to the question you actually have, which is: will the singer be heard over the drummer in this room?

The reason it feels so confusing is structural. Spec sheets advertise peak watts that measure the amp, not how loud the speaker plays. Every band has a different mix of what goes through the PA and what stays on stage. And most rooms you'll play are small, oddly shaped and full of hard surfaces. So work backward from your band and your rooms, not forward from a spec sheet.

Decide What the PA Actually Has to Carry

Start with the inputs, because they decide everything else. A PA for a band falls into one of two jobs:

• Vocals only. Guitar and bass amps and an acoustic drum kit carry themselves. The PA just has to put the singers on top. This is the cheapest rig and covers a lot of bar gigs.
• Full reinforcement. Kick drum, bass DI, keys, acoustic guitars, horns, or backing tracks all go through the PA. Now it needs low end, more channels and more headroom.

Write the input list the same way you would for a venue. Our guide to making a stage plot and input list walks through it, and the channel count you end up with tells you how big a mixer you need before you look at a single speaker.

How Many Watts You Need for a PA System

The common rules of thumb for indoor shows run from about 1 to 3 watts per person at moderate volume up to 5 to 10 watts per person for a loud band with room to spare. For a 100-person bar, that puts you somewhere between 300 and 1,000 watts. Outdoors, roughly double it, because there are no walls throwing the sound back at the crowd.

Use those numbers to rule things out, not to pick a winner. Two speakers with the same wattage can play at very different volumes depending on sensitivity and the amp's real continuous rating. When you compare models, look at the maximum SPL figure from the same manufacturer, read reviews from people who run them at band volume, and ignore peak watts entirely.

Powered Tops, Subs and Speaker Size

Most bands now buy powered speakers: the amp is built into the box, so you run a cable from the mixer and plug in power. Fewer pieces, fewer things to match, faster load-in.

• 12-inch tops are the workhorse. A pair of 12s on stands handles vocals and moderate band reinforcement in most small rooms. 10s are lighter and fine for acoustic and vocal-only gigs. 15s give more low end without a sub but get heavy and can sound boomy up close.
• Real numbers for scale. Popular powered 12s like the QSC K12.2 run roughly $900 to $1,000 new, and the Yamaha DXR12 mkII has been tracking around $735 to $910. Plan on buying a pair.
• Add a sub when the low end matters. The moment kick, bass or tracks go through the PA, a single subwoofer takes that load off the tops and lets them stay clean at volume. One good sub beats a second pair of tops.

Pick a Mixer That Fits the Band

Count your inputs, then add three or four spares. Bands grow, and nobody wants to unplug a vocal mic so the keys can go stereo.

A compact digital rack mixer is where a lot of bands land. The Behringer XR18, for example, sits around $509 new at major US retailers and gives you 18 inputs, built-in effects, saved scenes for each venue, and separate monitor mixes controlled from a tablet or phone. That last part matters: each player can dial their own wedge from their phone instead of shouting at whoever is closest to the board. An analog mixer is still a good choice for a simple vocal PA with a handful of channels, and there's nothing to update before a show.

Don't Forget Monitors

The crowd hearing the singer is half the job. The singer hearing themselves is the other half, and it's the half that decides whether they sing in tune. Budget for at least one or two floor wedges, or a pair of in-ear packs if the band is ready for that switch. Powered wedges keep the rig simple, and a digital mixer's aux sends let each wedge get its own mix.

Rent First, Then Buy Smart

If you only play a few shows a year, rent. A basic kit of two powered speakers, a small mixer and mics often runs roughly $150 to $400 a day in the US, with delivery or a tech on top if you need one. Renting a couple of different rigs is also the cheapest way to learn what you actually like before you spend real money.

Buy once the rental bills start to look like the price of the gear, or once you rehearse weekly and play rooms with no house system. PA gear holds value well and shows up used all the time, which takes a lot of the sting out. Our guide to buying used music gear covers what to test before you hand over cash: power it up, run every input, and push it to gig volume to listen for blown drivers or a crackling amp. And if the PA is getting bigger than the band can run while playing, that's the point to bring in help. Our guide to finding a live sound engineer covers what they do and how to find one.

Using Bandry for this

The Market board on Bandry is where musicians sell, buy and trade gear, PA speakers, subs and mixers included, with photos on every listing so you can see what you're getting before you meet up. The Resources tab runs a live Apple Maps search for rental shops, music stores and repair near you when you need a rig for the weekend, and if you'd rather have someone run sound, drop a Seeking post on the Bulletin tagged Live sound engineer. Browse what's listed on the music gear marketplace.