I played a really big Catholilc Mardi Gras party Saturday night. There were 312 tickets sold, plus workers, so about 350 people there. It was at a Knights of Columbus Hall, a large, cavernous building, with all cement floor, high ceilings and hard surfaces everywhere. No windows.
I used two Bose Compacts and they did fine, particularly on the large dance area right in front of me.
But I have to admit by halfway through the night, I wished I had brought the big Bose L1s.
By then, I needed REALLY loud, and while the compacts made it through, I had them cranked as loud as they would go without over-driving. The input indicators went into the red now and then.
I even had an older man come up and say they were sitting in the back of the room and they could hear, but could I turn it up some.
I took a break, put on MP3s and walked to the back, and you could hear everything clearly, but I would have liked a little more room to blow people away.
Anything larger or more demanding would have been beyond the Compacts' ability.
Of course this is not what they are designed to do anyway, but I found they do have their limitations. Line dancing for hundreds of semi-inebriated revelers is pushing it!
DonM