AUDIO-VISUAL
Play music in every room or create a mind-blowing home cinema – all without a cable in sight. Here’s what to look for when planning this part of your smart tech setup:
With an ultra-hd television coming in at £10,000 and surround-sound speakers at £2,000, costs can quickly mount up. “A home cinema starts at around £15,000 and can be stratospheric. We also sold a record deck last year that, with power leads and speaker cable, cost £160,000. However, at the other end of the scale, an affordable Sonos Play1 in each room may be adequate for many people,” says Seven Integration’s Alex Josling. The expense of hardware shouldn’t put you off installing the wiring with future flexibility in mind, however. “If a homeowner wasn’t sure if they wanted to put speakers into all the rooms from the start, we would suggest running the appropriate cables to the zones but leaving them inside the various construction elements ie, coiled in the ceiling void or positioned within a stud wall,” says Alan Matthews of Automated Spaces.
Hidden, centralised systems are neater and much more streamlined – meaning no more cable clutter behind the TV. “Having a central rack will eliminate the need to keep all the equipment in the main room, ensuring shorter cable runs throughout. A video matrix will allow video distribution throughout the property to as many TVS as you want. These can then all be controlled by a single user interface,” says Indigo Zest’s Nicolai Landschultz. If you like a seamless look, speakers can now be invisible thanks to products like Amina’s, which can be integrated within the wall and covered over, with options for most common construction methods.
Music and lighting are a perfect integration pairing.
“As with smart lighting scenes, music can also be controlled to come on at dinner time pre-set to the perfect conversational volume. Or you can press ‘party mode’ on your lighting keypad and have the whole room dancing,” says Nicolai. Consider extending your AV and lighting into the garden to create an amazing outdoor living and entertaining space.
Diy/wireless solution: Sonos is the market leader, with wifi options as well as integrating with whole-house smart technology systems. Voice assistants such as Amazon Echo also make adequate speakers.