Hello everyone!
Right now, our front ensemble is quite small and we are trying to get more volume out of the system we have.

Heres our specs... its not much...

Peavey 400BH Powered Mixer (170RMS into 8ohms, 210RMS into 4ohms, 300RMS into 2ohms)

2 12"; Peavey Speakers. Not sure what kind though but they are most likely 8ohm speakers.

My question is, can we purchase a power amplifier to get more sound to our current set up? Like link it all together, since we use the Peavey 400BH as a mixer too. I know its not much but we are willing to spend around 200-500 bucks to do this. Maybe you'd suggest another route?

Thanks for your help!

Whopps, actually heres the specs of your powered mixer.

http://www.peavey.com/assets/literature/manuals/80300747.pdf

You can see the controls are very limited in what we can do with it.

A mixer/amp is almost never a good mixer or a good amplifier. Also, to my knowledge one can't use a mixer/amp as only a mixer, and a quick review of the manual for your mixer/amp model doesn't seem to counter that concept.

Your mest bet is to invest funds in a standard mixing console with the channel count you need (for analogue, look at the Yamaha MG line for low channel counts), and get your pit either some power amplifiers to use with your existing loudspeakers or some powered loudspeakers such as EON510, EON515, EON310, or EON315 (depending on needed frequency response and funds available). The powered loudspeakers are the preferred option in my book because you have fewer individual pieces of equipment to maintain, plus if one powered loudspeaker fails in a stereo setup, you still have sound from the other loudspeaker. If you have one amp and it fails, you have no sound system at all.

Okay, thanks for the advice. The powered loud speakers are definitely out of the question. Say I were to purchase some mid grade power amplifier and wanted to bridge the mixer/amp and this new power amplifier together... is it possible? I know I can't do much to change the sound of the ensemble with the current mixer/amp, but at least Ill have more volume coming from the speakers. I want to use both the new amp, and the one in the mixer/amp together, to drive the sound. I hope this makes sense. Thanks again! Really helping me out here!

Rob,

It makes sense - you want more volume. However, there is no simple way to do what you want, and no safe way either. You need to be an electrical engineer to begin to understand how you could accomplish doing that, if it's even possible. Chances are it isn't, but regardless it's not a simple matter.

You probably need money for a new mixer and at least one new amp. Figure out what loudspeakers you have and post here. I'll give you some amplifier options that match your loudspeakers.