krassyg,

I’m assuming that a major function of this system is for background music. I strongly recommend that you use a “processor”, such as the dBx 1260. A 1260 will be the heart of your system, providing functions such as compression, limiting, equalization, remote input selection, remote volume, and microphone precedence (talk over the music). To a home audio freak, the processor will seem like an unnecessary expense, but in my opinion a processor is required in a restaurant system. If the restaurant owner’s expert friend nixes the processor, I’ll walk away from the job. While you might not want compression at home, a restaurant is a very noisy place and the compressor will allow you to run at a lower volume while retaining musical details that will otherwise be lost in the restaurant din.

The processor will also protect you from the restaurant’s greatest hazard — the cleanup crew. The cleanup crew will push the Volume way past “11” and eventually break something. Without the processor this will happen over and over. The 1260 is setup with a laptop, then locked. At this point the crew, even if they attempt to attack the system from the front panel, cannot push the system out of its safe zone.