If you’re anything like me, you research like crazy before you buy a new piece of equipment or technology.  So when my parish wanted to get a new portable sound system, I put in my time reading every review I could find.  And then I did something smarter than that: I asked a musician friend (and sound tech perfectionist) what he recommended.

After thoroughly (and unnecessarily) researching his recommendations, we ordered the equipment below — and we LOVE IT.

The Bose L1 Compact Speaker System

• Don’t let the size of the speaker fool you: The sound quality is amazing.
• The range is unbelievable: It projected across our church parking lot all the way to the park next door.
• No technical knowledge needed: It’s incredibly easy (and quick) to setup.
• Works great in small spaces too: The sound will fill any room plus you can walk right in front of it with a mic and there’s no squeal or feedback.
• Works right out of the box: Though we added a mixer (see below), you can use this system on it’s own.
• Plug right in: It’s got two input channels and ports to plug in a mic, iPod/iPhone, computer, DVD player audio (RCA), and even a guitar.
• It’s super portable: It quickly comes apart and weighs less than 30 pounds.

I’m not the only one who loves it, check out just some of the 27 5-star reviews on Amazon:

“It’s crystal clear sound has exceeded my expectations!”

“You walk in with your guitar, Bose L1 Compact and in 1 min you are ready to play your set/sets. No other system can do that.”

“I have to say this was by far the best investment I’ve made for music in a while.”

“Excellent sound performance, clarity and power sub, for this light weight portable system, easy to connect and assemble with, and it looks awesome.”

So I’m sure you’re thinking: Sounds awesome but how much is it?

Only $999.00

Plus it’s available on Amazon with free shipping!

One note: This system was designed for venues of 150 people or less.  In my opinion, it works great for more than that, but if you have 200+, it would be worth buying two and connecting them together.

Allen & Heath ZED-10FX

The Bose L1 system doesn’t need a mixer (it’s got a 2 channel mixer built in), but it you’re looking for more flexibility and control or if you just need to be able to plug in more than two inputs at a time, this budget-friendly mixer is the way to go!

• Multipurpose mixer with FX for live sound and recording
• 4 mic/line inputs
• Configurable USB stereo audio in/out
• 2 stereo input sources with MP3 player compatibility
• Separate 2-track record outputs

Only $299.00

Plus it’s available on Amazon Prime!

Line 6 XD-V35 – Wireless Handheld Mic

I love wireless mics.  The problem is: getting a good quality mic that sounds as good as a wired mic is usually super expensive.  Which is why I was so excited to find out about this Line 6 mic.

• Cutting edge technology makes it sound just like a wired mic!
• Battery display on the transmitter, so your sound guy knows how much battery life the mic you’re using has!

(There’s only one review of the Line 6 on Amazon & it’s only 3 stars, but know that we would give it 5 stars!)

Only $299.00

Plus it’s available on Amazon Prime!