How many speakers do you need for 50, 100 or 300 guests?

The honest answer to the most-asked planning question in our inbox. Not the answer that rents you the most equipment, the one that makes your party sound right.

The principle: coverage beats volume

One giant speaker turned up loud is how you get a party that is deafening at the front and inaudible at the back. Two correctly placed medium speakers beat one monster every single time. What you are buying is even coverage, not maximum noise.

Up to 50 guests

Two tops on stands, angled across the space. Add one subwoofer if people will dance, skip it for a dinner or cocktail evening. On our list this is the pair of RCF TT25-A II at 250 euro a night, and it covers a villa terrace with ease.

100 to 150 guests

Two tops and two subs, and now placement starts to matter more than the gear itself. Walls, wind and neighbours shape where things go. This is where the bigger RCF stack earns its 500 euro, and where it is worth having us position everything rather than dropping boxes in corners.

300 guests and up

This is a system design job, which is to say, our job. Zoned speakers so the bar can talk while the floor dances, delay speakers so the back is not an afterthought, a proper desk, and a crew. We quote these individually after seeing the venue or a plan of it.

The mistakes we keep seeing

• Renting by wattage. Watts measure electricity, not sound quality, and definitely not coverage
• One big speaker instead of two smaller ones, see above
• Forgetting the neighbours. On Ibiza, bass management is the difference between a great night and an early one
• No sub for a dance party. The dancefloor feels empty and nobody knows why
• Booking the PA but not the delivery window, then setting up at guest-arrival time

Unsure which tier your event is? Send us the guest count and a photo of the space on WhatsApp, +34 687 205 886. Takes us two minutes to tell you honestly.