A modern portable PA system is a far cry from the portable PA systems of our childhood memories. They give the modern-day presenter the flexibility to rapidly set up for a speech without being locked in by a building’s current sound system. And they allow flexibility in a lower cost than older fixed announcement systems.
These systems can be any size from a belt worn unit to a large suitcase-sized unit. They range in power from around 5 watts to 100 watts. And several have digital features such as wireless microphones, headsets and recording capability.
If you are looking to buy a portable PA system there are a couple of things to look for when you buy.
(1) Wattage of the unit is an important factor take into account. The more wattage you have the larger the audience you can present to. A 5 to 15 watt belt unit would be adequate for a 20 to 35 person audience in a 20 foot square room. While a 50 watt unit would work with around 50 to 60 people in a 40 foot square room. Remember though as wattage goes up so does the size of the unit.
(2) Portability of the unit or how much flexibility of movement do you have with the PA? The belt type units give you the most flexibility at the cost of broadcast range (due to small wattage speakers). The larger units have a higher wattage but lose some flexibility due to the speaker having to be fixed at a single site. This can be overcome though by using wireless headsets/microphones and for some units using add-on speakers.
3) The last thing to look for is where and for what purpose will the system be used for? Are you recording training sessions? Presenting a sales presentation to a group of customers? And where will most of the presentations take place. Would they be in a quiet room, near a busy construction site? There are several more accessories you can add to a basic system but you need to be familiar with the purpose and location where the unit will be used.
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