CSMA280 + (24) CSS8008 Ceiling Speaker System

Outfitting a large restaurant, bar, café, or retail floor with overhead sound takes a lot of matched parts, and this JBL commercial package delivers them in one order: a CSMA280 mixer amplifier and twenty-four CSS8008 8" ceiling speakers. The CSMA280 puts out 2 x 80W and powers 70V or 100V distributed lines through its built-in Hi-Z transformer, so long ceiling runs connect straight to the amp with no extra transformer in the rack. Split twelve speakers per channel and run them at the 5W tap, and each output carries 60W, under the 64W per-channel limit, giving you two independent zones such as a dining room and a bar from a single amplifier.

Eight inputs cover the sources a busy venue uses every day. Mic/line euroblock connections offer 27V phantom power for paging microphones, and RCA inputs take a streaming player or background music source. Voice-activated ducking on channels 1 and 5 pulls the music down the moment someone speaks, while priority muting silences every other channel for announcements. Each output has its own bass and treble controls, and two RJ45 ports accept JBL CSR-V wall volume controls (sold separately) so staff can adjust each zone from the floor instead of the equipment closet. When the room goes quiet, sleep mode powers the amp down after about 30 minutes without signal and wakes it as soon as audio returns.

Every CSS8008 pairs a dual-cone 8" driver with 96 dB sensitivity and 120° coverage, so even low tap settings produce clear, even sound across wide rooms. Taps of 5W, 2.5W, 1.3W, and 0.7W let you run fuller levels near the bar and softer fill where guests sit and talk. The speakers fit an 8.5" cutout and sit 2.8" deep behind the grille, a good match for standard drop ceilings.