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Types of speakers to create nightclub style sound?

Admittedly, this may come off as an unsophisticated post for audiophiles, but I'm seeking advice nonetheless. 

I have a house with an open floorplan and love entertaining. I'm looking to create the auditory feeling of a high-end nightclub at home, as opposed to having a setup with the goal of creating a single ideal listening point. After traveling to Ibiza and hearing some of the world's best nightclub sound systems I fell in love with how they bathe you in sound. Since I can't fit a Funktion One Dance Stack in my home, I'm curious as to what I should look for in the home audio realm to recreate that feeling of filling a room with powerful sound that isn't super directional. 

With a total initial budget of about 4-6k (1k - 3k for a pair of speakers), what qualities should I begin looking for to create this sort of system? I'm thinking used higher-end speakers might be a better solution. 

I've noticed a few different categories of sorts: some speakers have a single driver with a wide-range, like the Zu Audio Soul, while others have several for different drivers, like B&W 603. I absolutely loved the line-source sound from Martin Logan ESL speakers, but their directionality is exactly the opposite of what I want. Moving 2 feet to the left or right of their line of fire made it sound like the music was coming from the next room over. I live in Los Angeles, so there are plenty of used, good quality, higher-end speakers circulating in the marketplace. Can anybody offer a little guidance to narrow my search for what sort of speakers/amp combination might best accomplish this? 
perplexy
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,397 posts
 
I agree with others that horn speakers are often used in the club setting. A friend used multiple Klipsch with subwoofers strategically placed in the club he designed.
Also, EQ is needed since you don’t have much control over the various room surfaces. I include the amount of people in the space as affecting the EQ as well.
This is very different than an audiophile’s dedicated room.

wolf_garcia
6,631 posts
 
I do live concert production/mixing...have for many years...Consider powered P.A. speakers from Mackie as they’re not expensive and they sound great, and you can run 100 foot balanced lines to ’em. The newer "v3" SRM 350 10" 2 ways are only 23 lbs (neodymium woofer magnets) and 1000 watts (!) with built in signal processing. They're pretty much indestructible...You can buy little rigs for hanging these things. The "v2" version is also light and powerful and less expensive...match them with one of their 18" powered subs and you’ll dance all night at levels that can make your ears ring for months, cause structural damage to your house, and alienate any neighbor within a mile. A little mixer with balanced outs is all you need to drive the things.
big_katydid
50 posts
 
I've always been curious about PA sound as it can often provide a very immersive sound, at volume that somehow is not fatiguing. Is this due to frequency balance/sensitivity? I note many PA set ups do not try to reproduce low bass (using a filter of roll off is say 60Hz), I assume there are some frequency bands that are reduced that might otherwise cause harshness at those higher volumes.
davekayc
173 posts
 
Just go to a larger music store even if its a 2 hr drive and look at jbl prx series . Self powered wifi controlled , built in dsp the whole bit. Get a couple of 15” three ways with a couple 18” subs . Probably remove the pictures off your walls before they come down. And invite the neighbours or the cops will show up. 
wolf_garcia
6,631 posts
 
I think that a good PA rig sounds good when under-stressed...for medium size halls and acoustic based music (what I do primarily) relatively very high power into efficient speakers is what's happening, and either a couple of powered "phased array" types per side or simple powered or non powered more conventional (like Mackie 450s powered or not) PA stuff works great. A good high power sub fills in the bottom end, and all of this stuff is using only a fraction of the available headroom. I've often sat in the middle of an empty 350 seat venue waiting for the artists to show up just playing a CD of something for my own entertainment...a giant stereo rig (although shows are basically dual mono affairs)...the sound when things are set up properly is amazingly good during that self indulgent sound-man time, and also note the background music before shows really isn't loud at all so you'd sort of never know that "large stereo" thing as an audience member, except when the actual act is playing.
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