Musical bod type help needed - speakers, amps

[Beanz]

I am assuming you have borrowed passive PA speakers ? Then you are correct that you will require an amplifier but it is also important that you match impedance and power ratings. It will tell you on the back of each speaker cabinet and PA amp what is compatible. On some passive PA speakers you need separate crossovers to split the audio signal into different frequency ranges. Lower frequencies for the subwoofer and higher ones to the tweeter. If it is a powered mixer amp then you will be fine plugging the laptops soundcard into one channel and then each mic into its own.Just remember that the mics and the soundcard throw out wildly different types of signal and power so you need a line level input for the laptop (like a hifi cd into a hifi amp) and a mic level input for your mics, some mics also require phantom power so make sure yours do before powering this switch and blowing them up.(they are unlikely to need phantom power) Then you just have to adjust the volume pots on each input so that you have a nice balanced mix. The amount of speakers that can be used will be dependent on the number of physical outputs on the amp and the overall power and impedance rating of both amp and speakers. If you are going to hire an amp ask the technician in the hire shop. You can also get active PA speakers which have inputs and sometimes a little mixer built in.