Auditorium & Assembly Hall AudioAuditorium & Assembly Hall Audio

A 100V line speaker has a transformer and typically delivers between 10W and 60W. A passive 8 ohm cabinet has no transformer and takes a whole amplifier channel — which is why the PS-08 reaches 122 dB maximum SPL at 96 dB sensitivity, an output no distributed speaker approaches.

The other difference is directivity. The PN-10 has a specified 70 by 55 degree dispersion pattern, which lets you aim coverage at the seating and away from the reflective side walls and rear wall. In a hall, controlling where the sound does not go matters as much as where it does.

For speech alone, no. The PS-08 reaches 65 Hz and the PN-10 reaches 62 Hz, which is well below anything speech intelligibility depends on.

For assemblies with music, performances, worship with a band or any event with programmed content, a subwoofer changes the result substantially — not because the audience wants more bass, but because taking the low frequencies off the main cabinets lets them work harder and cleaner on everything above.

The SH-10 at 200W suits a smaller hall, the SH-12 at 500W covers most mid-sized auditoriums, and the SH-15 at 600W rated and 1000W peak, reaching down to 25 Hz, is for large halls and outdoor events. Note the weights — 15 kg, 21 kg and 27 kg — if the system has to be moved.

Range and freedom of movement drive the choice. The SYS-555 and SYS-9900 series operate over 80 to 100 metres, which covers any normal auditorium with margin, and both provide XLR balanced and 1/4 inch unbalanced outputs for connection to a mixer.

Where a hall needs both a roving presenter and a fixed lectern, a combination system such as the SYS-9900-UHL provides a handheld and a lapel transmitter on one receiver. For a permanent lectern position, a cardioid gooseneck such as the SYS-E66 is more reliable and needs no batteries.

For multi-microphone events, the four-channel SYS-1004H puts four systems in a single receiver with around 12 hours of battery life and up to 100 metres of range.

Auditoriums are the hardest feedback environment there is: high gain, roving microphones, hard surfaces and a large reverberant volume. Placement does most of the work — the mains must be forward of the microphone positions, aimed at the audience.

Beyond that, a DSP feedback suppressor is genuinely worth its rack space here. The XTR 6.0 sits between the mixer and the amplifier, detects ringing frequencies and notches them automatically, which buys real headroom in a room that cannot be acoustically treated.

Passive cabinets are matched per channel rather than totalled. A 150W PS-08 wants an amplifier delivering roughly 150W to 200W into 8 ohms on that channel, and a subwoofer needs its own channel with a crossover so the mains are high-passed.

If the hall also needs distributed coverage for announcements — a foyer, a balcony, an overflow area — run that as a separate 100V line from a zone amplifier rather than trying to make one output do both jobs.