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Whether you’ve got a birthday coming up, or your hosting a fashion show, PA system hire should form a crucial part of your event production considerations. The last thing you want is your guests to be underwhelmed by your sound performance, so hiring an excellent PA system is crucial.

This post will lay out what a PA system is, what the benefits of hiring one are as opposed to buying one, where and when you might want to hire a PA system, and why we offer the best PA system hire packages across London, Surrey, and Hampshire.

So let’s start with the first question – what is a PA system exactly?

What is a PA System? 

Put simply; a PA system is usually a set of speakers that help to fill a room, venue, or stage with sound. Standing for ‘public address,’ PA systems are used up and down the country, from wedding DJs to football stadiums.

They usually come as a set of at least two speakers to help create an immersive ‘stereo’ sound. But when you hire outdoor line array PA systems, you could have as many as five to seven speakers strapped together along with amplifiers and subwoofers to enhance the output. They can be used as speakers for playing pre-recorded music off a mobile phone or laptop, or they can be used for live musical performances. They are perfectly adept at performing either task.

Most contemporary PA systems are classed as ‘active’ systems whereby they have built-in amplification and just need to be plugged in to get to work. By contrast, ‘passive’ PA speakers will need an external power amplification unit to work. Modern active PA speaker systems are great for birthday parties, weddings, and any other celebration since all you have to do is ‘plugin and play’ with a 3.5mm jack aux cable.

PA System Hire vs Buying a PA System

Given how easy to set up and use they are; many individuals are tempted to invest their hard-earned money in a PA system that they can use whenever they like. While that may seem like a good idea at the time, in most scenarios, it makes much more sense to hire a PA system than to buy one outright.

For a start, the initial investment in a high-quality PA is north of a thousand pounds. They’re serious pieces of kit and not investments to take lightly. People who end up buying a PA system often don’t get much use out of them since the celebrations they’re bought for only tend to come around annually or bi-annually.

Remember these are not average speakers that you can use at home after your event is over. Well not without complaints from the neighbours anyway! Storage is another factor need to consider, they are quite bulky, especially if you buy a more advanced system with multiple speakers, amps, and subwoofers.

Given the fact that you can hire a powerful PA system setup for £120 from us, complete with two subwoofers with plenty of oomph for up to 200 guests, we just don’t think there are many scenarios where spending north of a thousand pounds makes sense (not that we’re biased of course!). For example, let’s say you spent £1200 on a comparable PA system for a large get-together you host once a year. It would take you a decade to break even on your investment. By which time, PA speaker technology will have well and truly moved on.

When Might You Need PA System Hire?

The short answer is whenever you need to project sound far and wide. As you can imagine that leaves a pretty broad scope of events, but for now, let’s focus on the most popular instances PA System hire based on our decades of experience.

Parties/Birthday Celebrations

There’s nothing better than a good old fashioned party! Whether you are celebrating an anniversary, exam results, or a milestone birthday; if you plan on having a good time, then you’re undoubtedly going need to hire a PA system to blast out the hits that will get both you and your guests up and dancing.

Unless you plan on inviting several hundreds of attendees, our laptop and phone PA System hire packages are an excellent fit for this purpose. They pack plenty of punch for less than £100 and are guaranteed to get your guests at least tapping their foot as they nervously watch their parents approach the dancefloor!

Weddings 

One of our most popular requests is for PA system hire for wedding celebrations and receptions. Dancing is a prerequisite at weddings, and whether you need to hire a PA system for your live band, or you need one for the DJ you’ve booked (or both), then it’s always worth investing in a premium PA system setup.

Our premium PA system hire packages offer top of the range d&b audiotechnik speakers combined with power amps and subwoofers will easily cater up to 500 guests, perfect for even the largest wedding celebrations out there.

Live Music Acts/Performers

As a live band, singer/songwriter, or a DJ, you need to have a PA system you can rely on to do you justice. If you’ve found some initial success, you may be able to land bookings for venues with their own PA systems. However, it many cases, once you arrive, you’ll quickly discover that the systems in question are old and barely fit for purpose.

Rather than leave it to chance, if you’ve got a critical live musical performance coming up, it makes sense to invest in reliable PA equipment that is no older than three years. If you’re a bit of a PA system aficionado, you can even offer to include providing your own sound equipment (for an additional fee, of course) to venues. If they are short on knowledge and time, it saves them from having to deal with the hassle of sorting it all out for you, and you score an extra win by being represented by the premium sound quality.

Outdoor Events 

From music festivals in Surrey to horse shows in Hampshire, we’ve provided all manner of PA systems to outdoor events. In most instances, when it comes to outdoor events, in particular, line array PA system hire makes the most sense.

The most extensive setups for these types of PA systems can comfortably accommodate up to 5,000 guests, which is perfect for an outdoor stage at a local music festival, for example. But they are just as suitable for any outdoor event with a large audience.

Fashion and Award Shows

Of course, line array PA systems are just as suited to providing the booming sound required for significant indoor events held at venues such as the O2. Over the years we’ve helped out plenty of London fashion shows, as well as awards and gala dinners with PA system hire.

For larger events of this nature, we can provide not just equipment, but a full turn-key d&b J Series PA System, complete with our own highly-skilled and experienced sound technicians to help set up and run the speakers during the event.

Why Choose the Sound and Light Hire Company for PA System Hire? 

We can provide all manner of sound equipment hire for your events. Whether you need a PA system for you live DJ, or you wish to host a local live band, there’s nothing we can’t provide to ensure our PA system hire services are precisely what you’re looking for.

Hiring out PA equipment not fit for the event in question is something we’re increasingly witnessing in the industry. We distinguish ourselves as a PA system hire company by offering state-of-the-art equipment that is more than capable of meeting the demands of your events, or specific guest numbers.

We realise that our PA system hire packages are only as good as the quality of the equipment. That’s why we continuously invest in new stock to ensure that not a single item is more than three years old. We also continually test and inspect all equipment before it’s deemed suitable to go back out on hire again. Every amp, subwoofer, and speaker is serviced every six months to ensure a reliable service.

In over a decade of operations, we have never had any PA system equipment failures. We believe that is a testament to our exacting standards of care we take over our equipment, as well as the faith we put in premium brands such as d&b audiotechnik.

How Much Does PA System Hire Cost?

The question on most people’s lips! The answer is, as usual, it depends. If you want to have a simple set up for your garden party with 50 odd guests, then we can provide you with everything you need for as little as £60. Going for something much bigger? For £120, you can hire a hefty 2.5KW PA system, which will comfortably stretch up to 200 guests.

On the other hand, let’s suppose you’re looking at professional-standard equipment for a music festival or an indoor arena award show. In that case, you’re going to need to invest in d&b audiotechnik Q series line array setups, which still come within £1,000. We feel this is unbeatable value for the amount, and crucially, the quality of the equipment you receive.

Are Your PA System Hire Packages Dry Hire Only? 

We’re also flexible with our PA system offerings. We realise that not everyone is going to be an expert when it comes to setting up and mixing state of the art PA systems. That’s why we offer live sound engineer hire from as little as £125 per day plus travel based within 25 miles of Guildford, Surrey, or London.

In fact, we’re on hand to provide any additional help you might need, whether that’s lighting hire or special effects. If you also need a sound engineer, a lighting technician, or a small production team, then that’s what we’ll provide. We are here to serve your needs at the end of the day, whatever they may be.

If you do decide to hire one or more members of our team, you’ve also got the added benefit of not having to worry about the equipment set up, operation, and subsequent dismantling. Instead, you can get on with running your event or enjoying your celebration.

Choose the Sounds and Light Hire Company for All of your PA System Hire Requirements

Be it a party, or a full-blown festival stage, a PA system can make all the difference when it comes to the quality of the sound relayed to your audience. PA system hire offers those in attendance to enjoy a truly immersive sound experience and is bound to get your guest dancing for those upbeat numbers!

No matter your reason for looking at hiring a PA system, it almost always makes sense to hire instead of buy. By doing so, you can benefit from the latest and greatest systems and additional technical support, should you need it.

So whether you’re having a small scale garden party, or your planning your industry’s biggest award show, we have the PA system hire capabilities to match. Just give us a call any day of the week using the information below, and we’ll happily discuss your requirements.