What Speakers to use in a bar/restaurant environment

Brrgrr, I've owned clubs. Stick with commercial. Big speakers tend to blow people out of certain areas. You are right to go with a 70volt system or a system with a very high voltage 8-12 pair impedance matching control. Cheap controls will literally melt (I've melted small Niles units).

EV-40's are probably the best I've seen. They are indestructible and sound decent. They do roll of at 15khz and would suck in your living room for quality music. However, the internal circuit breaker will protect the tweeters forever.

Even though I don't care for Bose, their commercial gear does crank. However, it's quite pricey.

Klipsch make commercial gear too, but then again it's not cheap.

JBL makes killer custom systems but they are more for a club.

Don't get cheap with an amp. More power is best. Some commercial amps sound like crap, some are good. Read reviews. They have improved a lot over the years. You may be able to get away with a small stack of audio amps vs a crown or qsc. Adcoms run all day long for cheap and Bryston has its 20 year warranty...

Finally, run it in mono. That's a great part of 70 volt. Imagine the tables on the sides only getting 1/2 the signal.

Commercial
JBL
Klipsch
Not Bose

You may find this website useful:
http://www.audioplex.com/25VoltSystem2.htm

For this kind of application: I'll second the Bose.

Go with active speakers with a computer for a source.
QSC K8's and Ksub.
http://www.qscaudio.com/products/speakers/k_series/

Heard a bose commercial system the other day while I was at a church.
Pretty awsome.
The local red lobster here has posh speakers with passive subs flown from the ceilings, and I have to admit, it sounds pretty good.
I have been to many bars & clubs in my lifetime (believe me!), and most sound like crap.
There is a small bar here in town that has a total Onkyo system with a seperate transformer (step up, or down, I don't know.
They use about 6 pairs of onkyo speakers (don't know the model #), with 8" woofers, a mid and tweet.
Pretty good sound really.
I don't care for the Klipsch for the price.
I like them in home, but a resturant I frequent uses the outdoor type klipsch 2 way (6 1/2"), and a home amp (yamaha), and it sounds horrible.
The local Hastings record store here uses pro equipment (2-samson amps, samson preamp, and JVC 5 disc player), and it sounds pretty good also.
They are running about 10-12 pair of 8" in ceilling coax speakers, and it actually sounds pretty good with good mid, highs and decent bass.
Best public system I ever heard was at the Tiki room at Disney land in Aniheim, Ca.
I asked (had to ask 3 different employees) what kind of speakers they used (obviously subs), and the guy said they were BagEnds.
It sounded freaking awsome.
Very Pricey though.
You could definately get away with consumer electronics, if you were to go with powered speakers.
May save you some money also.
Behringer, alisis, and many others offer reasonable priced powered speakers and subs.

Forget the amps and buy a set of newer (series II) powered Mackies maybe. They're the smoothest (much sweeter than the JBLs) and most musical for the money (QSCs are also great but cost a lot more) and the 10" 2 ways weigh 20 lbs or something with readily available mounting gear. They're able to play VERY loud or just stay in the background, and if you have entertainment blowing through them, or an out of control employee party (the best kind) you can SHREAD a small room with these. I have a pair of the unpowered C200s and they are amazingly well voiced for monitor purposes, and built like a tank. You can run a balanced line to 'em for miles with no loss, and almost hose 'em off when they get dusty. I know somebody who covered a pair with black cloth to hide 'em when hanging in a bar ceiling. Very wide and smooth dispersion in the horns so everybody can hear you annnounce LAST CALL.

Genelec sound great, very clean with huge soundstage. Professional studio stuff though that can get expensive. Mackie also make some nice gear.

Over the years I've seen a lot of bars with Bose 901s hung from the ceiling. They go loud and are pretty durable, and you can get an older system fairly cheap nowadays.

I was at Chipotle last night and I saw that they had quite a bit of Mirage Omnisat V2 speakers mounted upside down high up on the walls and in the lower ceiling joists. The volume level was fine but I don't know how loud it could have gone.

i second the mirage omnis--i've heard 'em in (acoustically challenged) restaurant environments and they sound damn good. the real advantage to them is that they have that 360 degree dispersion--they really don't have dead spots. they're also seemingly impervious to placement. i'm seeing 'em in more and more national chain stores, which suggests that they do have commercial application.

My $0.02 worth:

1- For a 3000 ft2 space you are probably going to want to distribute speakers over the space. One pair of speakers will be too loud adjacent to the speakers and not loud enough at the "edges".

2- Suspending the speakers from the ceiling is OK for background music but sounds like crap for anything else. Can you consider wall mount speakers? You could ever use several pairs of Magnepan MMWs and subs throughout the space.

3- I like the active speaker idea IF you can manage the AC power requirements. If not look at PMC and Westlake Audio - not cheap but great stuff designed for just this type of application.

4- I would seriously consider hiring a professional to measure your space and configure this for you. IMHO they will earn their fee and then some.

5- Remember that even if you get it right your space is going to sound completely different empty than it will full of people trying to talk over the music.

Br3098,
As a former Tympani !D owner I have thought about the MMW's, crazy as that might sound to some. I WILL need probably 8-12 individual speakers to get a full sound without loud and soft spots, so to speak.

As far as getting a pro to do an analysis we are located far from anyone with that type of expertise, sadly. That's an option I would try if someone were available in the area.
The Mirage idea is also something I gave thought to a year ago, and as they are made in Canada, like I , it would be a nice fit.
Great info from everyone. Really appreciated.
B

Check out the reviews on the Nick and Eddie in MN. The key is "deliver a rich spectrum of sound that won’t interfere with dinner conversation"

http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/mouthing-off/restaurants/page/34