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Hello all,
I've been researching for a couple weeks now on what I should buy for a piano, external speakers and a microphone. So many options and I don't know that reading amazon reviews is my best option so figured I'd come here and post my question.

I am looking to purchase a good keyboard to use at our church functions/occasions that will be outside mostly(up to 100-150 people at the most). The needs/wants are 88 keys, weighted keys, and pedal. We also need some external speakers that can be plugged into the keyboard and would ideally like a microphone or 2. Any suggestions would be very appreciated. I was going to buy the yamaha p71 keyboard but had read that when you plug external speakers into it, it doesn't sound very good at all. If anyone could steer me in the right direction that would be awesome. Willing to spend some money on the setup but there is just so many options out there. Ideally trying to stay around 1500 for the setup.

Try this for a starter:

. . . Yamaha P125 or Kawai ES-110 / ES-120 or Roland FP30x

. . . Shure SM58 mic plus stand plus cable

. . . ElectroVoice ZXA1 powered speaker (with both built-in mic preamp and line-level inputs) plus tripod speaker stand

I think those will fit within your budget. I have the mic and speaker. The mic is widely used. The speaker isn't the most modern design (no DSP, for one thing), but IMHO it sounds good, and will handle 100 people. You'll need a tripod stand to get it above the heads of the audience -- much better coverage with a high loudspeaker. There are equivalent (8" woofer + horn tweeter) powered speakers from Yamaha / Mackie / Yorkville. Check for "powered stage monitors" in the catalogs.

You can drive the speaker from the headphone output of the DP (whatever you choose), _if_ the DP has monophonic capabilities. That might be via dedicated monophonic pianos, or a simple resistive mixer, or by using just the "Left/Mono" line output, if it has line outputs.

Using a two-input powered speaker eliminates the need for an audio mixer -- one less thing for an inexperienced person to mis-configure. If you want to use two mic's, you _will_ need a mixer. Yamaha and Mackie and Behringer make small, two-mic mixer (Behringer Xenyx 802 is one).

This is not rocket science. Getting the absolute "best bang for the buck" is always a difficult trade-off, but there are lots of combinations that will work well.

Thank you! Appreciate the info!

If I were choosing for myself to keep costs low for the keyboard:

Roland FP30X

Mic: Sennheiser E945

Are you wanting a PA?
If so, do you need battery powered amplification for off piste work?

I like the Kawai ES120. But whatever keyboard you get, make sure it has line-out for the PA. Some of the low-end pianos leave that out. Also, while recent digital pianos have improved greatly, there hasn’t been a lot of revolutionary change in PA systems. By which I mean, you can save some money by buying a used mixing board, microphone, and powered speakers.

I bought a used Bose L1 tower, and it would work great for your needs. It is simple to operate since you don’t need a separate mixer, speaker stands, and speaker cables.

+1 on the Bose towers. They give good coverage, and fewer feedback problems than point-source speakers. We have them in our synagogue, with good results.

Another path (to an easy-to-use PA system) is to get a Yamaha Stagepas system, or one of its competitors. They combine a mixer + power amp in one box, and a pair of PA loudspeakers, into a single package for carrying. Here's the smallest one in Yamaha's line:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...tagepas-400bt-portable-pa-with-bluetooth

I urge you to rent some PA equipment, and a DP, before you make any decisions. Rental fees are reasonable, and you'll learn a lot about what you need, and what you don't.

You can always pick up bose L1 compact on ebay second hand.