Today I had the opportunity to play live Bert Kaempfert and Glenn Miller music in a "nostalgy café".
The café was quite spacious and consisted of 3 rooms which were each connected by narrow connections (no doors between).
I was placed in the middle room and used my HK Lucas Nano 300. It was good for the middle room (except I thought there was a certain lack of lower-mid frequencies, which neither the top speakers nor the subwoofer delivered, so that the typical Kaempfert "Knack-Bass" was somehow split into a high 'Knack' and a boomy bass, a bit unnatural.
At the end, the café owner asked me if I could place speakers in the other rooms next time so that the other rooms would get more sound. I think it would be a rather complicated solution with long cables, and I want to stay stereo.
I think it is always a bad situation if you have such a longish venue with a chain of rooms. Have you made any experience with such venues? Any easy solutions?

I have been in this situation a few times ....with either 3 long separate rooms....I was in the middle lobby to my right a dinner room & to my left a library converted into a dinner room, or playig a cocktail hr inside and a connected Outside deck for guests also which required multi speakers in & out, ... aside from using the HOUSE PA Ceiling Speaker system to distribute your sound which I don't suggest as damage to their system could be imminent unless it's a good quality audio system most aren't....and difficult to adjust different room volume levels during each song with a house unit & your own. I would use separate speakers in EACH ROOM hooked into your main mixer using separate channels to control each room.

I've played many times in similar situations, and until I began using the Bose L1, I experienced the same problem. I played a 50th wedding anniversary at a huge, upscale country club on Maryland's Eastern Shore, the ballroom was where I was set up, and around the corner in another room was the dining room. The system covered the entire venue with very little falloff, and even I was amazed.

The first time I encountered the Bose L1 system was when Uncle Dave was playing at an Italian Restaurant in Philadelphia, a venue that consisted of a bar in the center room and dining rooms on each side of the bar section. There was a partial wall between each of the rooms, with about a 4-foot vertical opening between the rooms with spindles on the walls, and lots of hanging, artificial plants. No matter where I walked throughout the entire complex, the music volume was nearly identical There was virtually no falloff in any of the rooms. And, while Dave was playing and singing at a relatively modest volume, everyone could hear him just fine. Ironically, the couple that was sitting just 6 feet in front of the sound system were holding a conversation in normal tones and they had no trouble hearing each other. That sold me right away on the Bose system.

Knowing that you wish to remain in stereo, I believe that it would be ridiculously expensive to purchase a pair of standard L1 systems in Germany just to retain that stereo sound. And, stereo would not be transmitted to the adjoining rooms. However, I can assure you that a pair of Standard L1 Bose systems would provide the most incredible sound you'll ever hear, even in the adjoining rooms.

Your only other option is to go with powered monitors in the adjoining rooms, run long cables to them from the line out of your existing sound system and hope for the best. From my own, personal experience, the audiences do not care if the sound is mono or stereo. The player is the person that seems to benefit most from stereo - not the audience.

Good luck,

Gary

Thanks for your comments. I guess the good, even coverage of the L1 systems would certainly have been an advantage with this kind of architecture. I will probable continue to place my speakers near me in the middle room, but not in the corner, but direct them towards the passages between the rooms so that as much of the sound energy as possible will get through into the other rooms. They don't pay well enough for me to set up a more complex configuration ;-)

I had a similar situation where the venue over-booked and had to put people in two different rooms. I played the big room to about 280 ppl...and they insisted I tap into a house system that ran into a smaller lounge of 80 ppl.

My mixer distributed the signal to both my Bose L1 and their system. In the the big room it was fine. In the small room it was a nightmare. People from that room would come to me and tell me it was way too loud....or not loud enough. I couldn't hear what they were hearing so could not adjust it remotely. The amp for the speakers in the small room were behind the bar and nobody seemed to know how to work it. Nobody complained about distortion in the small room, but I can't believe the 5" ceiling speakers in the small lounge were not distorting.

Neither the venue or the audience blamed me because I advised against doing it in the first place. But, the venue had a lot of disappointed and unhappy customers that night.
Eddie

That's what I was talking about in the above post ..I can see one L1 not carrying into another room and you would need two,.....and the 5" house speakers up top suck.....and if you blow their system they'll want you to pay for it. That's why I suggested putting a single speaker in EACH room with a long cable hooked to SEPARATE Mixer channels so you can control EACH ONE.. Then just do a sound check play an Mp3 go out and listen in each room and adjust the best you can......& another thing that stinks in this scenario is that you cannot talk or play to the audience in separate rooms either and that's weird too...try to find out all this info BEFOREHAND when the job is booked ask many questions so there are NO surprises afterwards.

Donny, as you well know, especially with new venues, locations where you've never performed, there always seems to be surprises. Such as: "Oh, I forgot to tell, you daughter will be singing about a dozen songs tonight, using your mic and sound system." Or, how about, "we have a meeting and some announcements to make, it won't take very long, then you can do your show." Two hours later, they're sill giving out awards and you're still waiting to play for four hours, hoping to get out of the place before midnight, when you were supposed to finish at 10 p.m.. Then, there's always, "we decided to move the banquet to the downstairs hall where there is more room. No, there are no elevators and it's two levels down, will that be a problem?" Then,the one I always love to hear after you've lugged in all your gear, set it up on a high stage and the hall manager comes up and says "Oh, didn't anyone call you? They didn't sell enough tickets, so they cancelled the dance yesterday evening."

Cheers,

Gary

All true Gary..been there done that many times......btw did the package arrive.?

Yes, it came Saturday afternoon - thanks old friend.

Gary

you got it buddy!!..

Rosetree, I would set up normally the way you intended for the main room and unless you are being paid for additional coverage to the other rooms...as a courtesy, I would run a powered monitor (mono) in each of the other rooms..control the sound system with a mixer..Do a sound check with a recording playing..I would also keep the monitors on the floor, just inside the doorways you described..

On the floor will give you the best fulness, and away from the crowd..decent coverge..

If you use wedge monitors..try turning them towards the wall and 3-4 feet from the wall..

Ditto to what Fran said.

Gary

Gary, after you try the Shure mic and put it back in the box, ship it down this way.
I'm going to be calling some Bingo and it may come in handy.
Actually, I might be in the market for it if you don't need. It's for a secret project between me and my grandson.

Yes, I know I don't look like it but I AM technically old enough to have grandsons.

Me too.

Gary

Honestly I never tried it Don...It was given to me by a Square dance caller who retired.......so Gary will hopefully give it a tryout & review, who knows maybe it works good enough for a backup?..

Should be great for Bingo then!

BTW, if you want to have a look into this crazy nostalgic café, this is one of the three rooms:
https://www.facebook.com/nostalgiecafe?ref=ts&fref=ts

(I wrote them I would bring an additional pair of active speakers next time.)

Neat looking place, but with all the clutter it seems as if it would be somewhat difficult to get in and out with a cart load of gear.

Gary

The middle room was a little less stuffed, had a tiny corner reserved for me and a side entrance, but no chance to use a cart as there are many stairs at the entrance.

I agree Gary ....A Bull in a China Shop...comes to mind.

Among the 'nostalgic' items they had photos of, was one of the Bell & Howell 8mm movie projector I have ...