I have little experience with 70 Volt systems and was looking for honest feedback.

1) What would sound better? A JBL Control 25T on Crown 1160MA or a JBL Control 25 on a Niles 1230? (All things being equal, .. Source, Watts.. etc)

2) For restaurant background music, generally what do you target for your speaker Watts? 5W, 7W, 10W .. etc

3) For dual zones where there is a restaurant and a bar, the owner wants a higher fidelity sound in the bar. Would you run with an 8 ohm system? Or is the difference marginal and it makes sense to use 70V?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

I've got a bit of experience with them, so here goes.

1. It depends. The Crown 70 volt system option would offer greater robustness. It will give you greater flexibility if paging is a concern.
2. It really depends. How big is the place? What is the noise floor? What is the ceiling height? What does the speaker offer? What is the expectation of the bar owner/patron?
3. Consider running a split system in the area where greater fidelity is desired. Use 70 volt for the tops, and 8 ohm for subwoofers. Does your bar owner want zone paging? Do you want truly a dual zone system?

Consider working with a supplier who can help guide you through these and lots of other issues..... At least one that I am aware of has lots of expertise in this area.

Especially if they're located in Minnosota!

I've done a few but perhaps not as many as Fred. You can very economically install lots of speakers with 70v but the trade off is sound quality. If your primary function is voice, paging or microphone 70v systems work very well and can be very economical. The Niles 1230 is not a great amp. Their SI1260 is a much better design though much more money. I love Sherbourn and would recomend their amps over many other competitors and they have the TST-200-4 which will drive 4 pairs of 8 ohm speakers easily. Their 12-900 is a really good 12 channel amp and the 16/900 is a spectacular 16 channel amp. The point is any of these amps will provide better sound then a 70v system. If all you are doing is background music then 70v will work well enough. If you have lots of speakers it can be the only economical solution. Where you have sound quality as a design criteria a 70v system would not be the best choice.

Alan