Sound mechanics in the smaller end of the industry are relatively basic, and most small scale rigs will involve either speaker stacks ground mounted, or simple speaker stands supporting the cabinets by means of ‘top hat’ fittings in the bottom of the speaker. The ‘top hat’ is a metal tube with a closed end set up inside the speaker, so that the cabinet can be placed on top of a speaker stand. Watch out for varying stand diameters, (speaker stands are generally a bit fatter than lighting stands), but in principle this arrangement will work well for the small user.
Phosphene favours a flown centre cluster of speakers for re-inforcement in some venues. This can help with coverage and with avoiding some of the problems of feedback. There are several ways of achieving this sort of rigging, the simplest being providing each speaker cabinet with steel flying lines to fix off to convenient RSJs or similar. Standard scaff clamps may well be a suitable solution if the venue has a permanent LX bar in a suitable position (what is usually referred to as an ‘advance bar’) In all cases ensure that the fixings are secure and there is some secondary support. Speakers are generally big and heavy and will tend to give you a headache if they fall on you.

Here’s some brief guidelines to connector pin configurations.

Unbalanced mic or line level signals:-
For phono (RCA) plugs or jack plugs (3.5mm or 6mm) the centre or tip contact is always signal / hot / + and the sleeve or screen connection is always ground / earth / –
For XLR connectors pin 1 is ground / earth / -. pin 2 is signal / hot / +. pin 3 should be connected to pin 1

Balanced mic or line level signals:-
In the unlikely event that you use jack plugs, use stereo types and connect:
Sleeve to ground / earth
Ring to signal –
Tip to signal +
XLR connectors connect:
Pin 1 to ground / earth
Pin 2 to signal +
Pin 3 to signal –

XLR connectors are really the only reliable connector in common use in the audio world, and are the industry standard for microphones and for line level links. There is some variation in speaker connections, ranging from standard jacks on much disco and similar small scale PA to XLR and Speakon. With the exception of speakon, which has been developed specifically for speaker connections, the use of existing audio connectors for speakers poses some risk of connecting an amplifier output straight into a mic input. (BANG) There are also two schools of thought on the gender of the connector that should be used. Everyone agrees that mic and line level signals go from the male (pins) connector into the female (socket) connector. However, although logic dictates that this convention should also be followed by speaker level signals, some prefer to have these connectors the other way round so that you can’t accidentally touch the ‘hot’ pins. Certainly there might be a few tens of volts present, but you shouldn’t really be plugging up with amps on and sound blasting out anyway, should you! Be aware too that the rise of computer sound has led to the (horrible) use of phono plugs for speaker levels. (The Americans call these RCA connectors). Since from time immemorial the phono connector has only ever been used for line level this is a new, real, hazard.
Note too that laptops and iPods are using the 3.5mm stereo jack as an output. Although these outputs are generally earphone (headphone) level a bit of care with ‘volume’ controls will allow you to use these connections to go into the line in on desks etc.
Finally a brief word about the connections for iPad and Android phone audio. You’ll know that your headphones plug in via a 3.5mm ring, tip sleeve jack, and that, as we just said, you can extract a stereo audio signal that way. What you might not realise is that the socket is actually tip, ring, ring sleeve. In other words it’s designed to take a 3.5mm jack with four possible connection points. These are allocated as tip = audio out Left. ring = audio out Right, ring = ground/screen and sleeve = mic input. This layout is now the standard for Apple and most Android devices. Beware however that there was an old format used by Playstation and so on that reversed the second ring and the sleeve. Always check. That said you’ve just found out how to feed audio into your iPad to record. (You’ll probably need to make up the appropriate lead, and be aware that many devices won’t revognise the mic you’ve attached to them unless there are headphones attached as well. If you take care you can feed line level into this mic input if you keep the level of the incoming signal well down. It will, of course, only be mono.)