The Sound of Success: Choosing the Right Audio System for Your Event.
From small ballroom events to stadium-sized concerts, there’s one thing every audience has in common … they expect to hear what’s going on.
Encompass supports events across every scale and scenario, and an easily overlooked piece of the production puzzle is audio. Clear, reliable sound can elevate an event, while poor audio is remembered for all the wrong reasons.
Whether you’re planning a local commencement or a national campaign launch, audio isn’t just a line item—it’s a make-or-break experience.
Start with the Basics: What Are You Trying to Accomplish?
Before diving into equipment lists or tech specs, start with context:
- How many people are you expecting?
- Is it indoors or outdoors?
- How far does the sound need to travel?
- Will there be music, video playback, or just spoken word?
These questions may seem simple, but they directly influence whether you need a basic distributed system or a fully engineered line array with delay zones and digital control.
The Right Tool for the Job: Audio Options by Scale
Small to Medium Events
For gymnasiums, hotel ballrooms, or small outdoor gatherings, powered speakers on stands often do the trick. We might deploy something like Yamaha DBR10s or JBL SRX906LA—compact, clean, and easy to scale.
Even at this level, we’ll often use a digital mixer (like a Yamaha QL1) to ensure consistent gain structure, delay alignment, and EQ presets.
Pro Tip: One of the most common failures in DIY systems is feedback caused by mismatched gain staging. A digital mixer with good metering and processing helps catch problems before they hit the audience.
Large-Scale Events
For stadiums, large outdoor rallies, or multi-zone audio coverage, we’re usually looking at a line array system—think L-Acoustics K2/KS28 or JBL SRX910LA. These systems are engineered for controlled dispersion, long throw, and precise tuning.
With these setups, we’re bringing in more capable mixers (Yamaha RIVAGE series) plus system processing like Lake and/or L-Acoustics LA Network Manager to manage everything from EQ curves to delay stacks.
Pro Tip: Tuning a line array is part art, part science. We use prediction software (like Soundvision) to model the venue and pre-plot speaker angles, splay, and coverage. What looks like a pile of speakers is actually a carefully calibrated machine.
It’s Not All Gear—Deployment Matters
You can spend big on gear and still end up with bad sound if the deployment isn’t right. At Encompass, we treat every show like a custom build. We factor in the venue’s acoustics, wind direction, audience density, and ambient noise before we place a single loudspeaker.
- Indoors? We’re tuning around reflections and room modes.
- Outdoors? We’re managing coverage angles and wind drift.
- Multiple rooms or zones? We’re clocking and aligning with a digital delay to keep everything in sync.
Don’t Forget the End User
Not every show needs a huge rig, but every show needs a system that sounds good to the people in the seats. We pride ourselves on designing scalable systems that balance performance, budget, and footprint.
Whether you’re a seasoned technical director or a corporate planner with a sharp eye on ROI, our team is here to translate your event goals into sound systems that just work.
Need help choosing the right audio system for your next show? We’ll bring the nerdy details—and make them make sense.
Our team has worked in broadcast television, touring entertainment, live sporting events, and countless convention facilities. The combination of unique backgrounds situates us perfectly to produce high-end and complex offerings.
We have technical design experience and a disciplined process that allows us to easily scale events. There isn’t much beyond our scope, and we love the intensity of putting on events!
If you’re a planner working to create an event, seeking help with event technology, or simply want to learn more … we can help! Sign up below to receive our updates (we promise to keep your contact information secure and won’t “overshare”).
