This must be a British Aisles thing. Over here, "acoustic" means an instrument that is not powered by electricity. Unless you're in a very small room, if there's a substantial number of people, you can't hear an acoustic instrument without amplification. If you're outside, forget hearing an acoustic instrument from more than ten feet away.

I'm not sure I understand this discussion at all, greg. Almost all acoustic instruments (and the voice is "acoustic" too, I guess,) are amplified by microphones and sound systems so that they can be heard in all but the smallest rooms. An acoustic guitar with a pick-up doesn't sound that different to an acoustic guitar amplified by a free-standing microphone and sound system. In the smallest coffee house in the 60's, people performed without a sound system, because one wasn't needed. The bigger clubs used microphones and apmlification, though. It's more a matter (to me) of being able to hear the music. That's why it is played.

Clear me up, greg..

Jerry