Reinforcement systems have certain specific qualities, which should be observed. Much time will be saved if planning beforehand is considered. The system if not installed with correct and appropriate hardware can cause subsequent problems. The main reason for the installation of a system is to avoid expense of passive acoustic treatment. A reinforcement system can mitigate bad acoustics. On the other had a well planned passive acoustic system with natural voice volume is superior to any amplified voice reinforcement. A good speech reinforcement system is one in which all the audience hear the speech clearly undistorted and at reasonable loudness.

A good quality microphone is required. A sub standard microphone delivers distorted speech signals to the rest of the system, and nothing can be done subsequently to correct this the microphone is a key component in the system. Microphones are made either equally sensitive to sounds arming from any direction (omni directional) or more sensitive to sounds arriving from one or more directions. Directional microphones are recommended as they reduce feedback. The directional microphone should be placed so that its least sensitive side faces the loudspeaker and thus the amplification of the system can be greater before feed back occurs.

If several ordinary loudspeakers is mounted one above the other and are connected together in phase by an interference effect they concentrate most of the sound into a beam which is narrow in the vertical plane but which is no more directional in the horizontal plane. Column speakers have an advantage over ordinary loudspeakers, and indeed over the unaided voice. They direct most of the speech sounds towards the audience. This means that the intensity of the reverberant sound is less, and thus the reverberant sound is reduced. The result is enhanced speech intelligibility.