It is Friday night, and you love to join friends and family out somewhere to eat. You head out to one of your favorite restaurants. What do you like about it? What does it have in common with your other favorite restaurants? What about them draws you to continue to go back?

Sure, the food may be delicious, or it may even be average, but it’s the atmosphere that brings you back. The feel of the place, the sounds that you hear, the comfort and enjoyment that you feel. Let’s take a look at a few ‘must-haves’ to create the optimal atmosphere for your restaurant and customers.

Multi-Zone Audio Setup

There are many things to consider for your multi-zone audio setup. Does your bar or restaurant have a simple dining layout? Or, does it have different areas that cater to various customer preferences? When you have a bar area, it may be louder with music playing, or sports on the displays. Your main seating area may have a calm and comfortable feel to it. Depending on where you are located, or the time of year, you may have a lively outdoor patio area. If you have the space, you may have a private party room or two. The different areas of your restaurant or bar have audio needs.

Multi-zone audio allows you to control the media and volume in each of the various zones. You can set the mood best suited for each zone, play customer-requested songs, and make changes to each zone as needed. You can change up the playlist in each zone or play the same audio through all the zones as needed.

Professional audio layout and installation

Speaker layout is a lot more challenging than you may expect with many considerations. Never throw a speaker over the bar and call it done. Don’t place a speaker near the central table and think it’s good; you may have to turn the volume up for the outer tables to be able to hear it, making it too loud for the tables near the center. Your patrons will not be getting the same experience, and you never want that.

The Xycom team of experts can work with you, taking into consideration: the different zones needed, the desired atmosphere for each zone, and the various obstacles to overcome (thickness of the walls, dining layout, what the walls, tables, counters, bar, are made of, and more) to put together an optimal audio layout for your restaurant or bar. Once the layout is determined, we will install and set up everything to ensure it is perfect for your business.

Keep it at the best volume

There’s nothing worse than meeting up with family and friends at a restaurant and then not being able to talk with one another due to the music being too loud. When one person talks, the others have to hold their hands to their ears, saying “what? What did you say?” On the other side of the same coin, you don’t want the volume so low that no one can hear it. This will lead to several awkward moments of silence and a lack of comfort.

When you have a game on in a zone(s), you want to make sure that everyone in those zones can hear the game; many people come out simply to enjoy a nice meal or beverage while watching the game. You need to make sure that your patrons in the zones watching the game can hear the game without the audio from other zones interfering, and vice versa.

A centralized control system

It all comes down to control, simple control that is. When each zone has its own controls, it is hard to make any needed changes, having to run between zones, find the controls, and make any needed changes. Changing songs, the station, channel, and volume for each zone should be simple and quickly tended to.

When you have a central control system, you and your employees can manage every zone and make any changes from a single smart device. This lets you make any changes quickly and discretely without disrupting any of the customers.

Want to create a great atmosphere for your restaurant, drawing in new customers and keeping them coming back? Our team at Xycom Technology knows how to best layout, install, and set up commercial audio systems for your space. Give us a call today at 412.828.1700 or email us at info@xycomgroup.com today. We are excited to talk with you!