Whole Home Audio Video — Crestron Installation Pimlico, London

High-End Multi-Room AV in a Pimlico Townhouse

This townhouse in Pimlico benefits from a full Crestron audio video installation. HD audio and video sources are distributed from a central rack to every room — from the family kitchen to the client’s dedicated high-end listening room and a basement home cinema room. The whole entertainment system is controlled through bespoke iPad interfaces. What makes this project notable is its range: the same centralised system serves a dedicated audiophile listening room with Bowers & Wilkins floor-standing speakers, a family kitchen TV and a basement cinema, with a completely consistent interface from each location.

Whole-Home Audio Distribution

A Crestron digital media system distributes audio from centralised Sky HD, Apple TV and a digital music server providing Spotify, iTunes and internet radio to all five audio zones, simultaneously or independently. The client’s extensive music library is available anywhere in the house with no quality compromise — including in the main listening room, where the high-quality analogue output feeds a dedicated amplifier driving the Bowers & Wilkins floor-standing speakers. Rooms can play the same source in sync — a party mode that fills the house from kitchen to garden — or completely independently.

Behind the three very different rooms sits one centralised rack and one control system. Keeping every source in a single rack means there are no boxes or cables in the living spaces, and anything added to the rack is immediately available wherever it is needed. The services that came together in this Pimlico townhouse are shown below.

The High-End Listening Room

The main reception room doubles as a serious listening space. Bowers & Wilkins floor-standing speakers driven by a dedicated high-quality amplifier give the client reference-level stereo audio for serious listening sessions, while remaining fully integrated with the Crestron system for casual use. The same iPad that controls the kitchen TV selects a vinyl rip from the music server and routes it to the listening room amplifier — a seamless connection between audiophile ambition and whole-home convenience.

This is how we approach high-end hi-fi within a whole-home system: the listening room becomes a dedicated high-end endpoint of the centralised audio distribution rather than an isolated standalone system. Source selection is handled from the same interface used throughout the house, while the reproduction itself is left to a dedicated amplifier and loudspeakers chosen for the room. As independent designers and installers, we choose equipment for the room and the client’s listening habits rather than to meet any manufacturer target.

The Basement Home Cinema

The basement cinema room packs a significant punch despite its compact footprint. A 75″ Samsung LED TV fills the main viewing wall, enhanced by a custom Artcoustic surround speaker package. The front channels are reproduced by a bespoke Artcoustic speaker mounted directly under the TV, with on-wall speakers providing surround channels, and a built-in subwoofer completes the sound stage. The cinema has access to the same centralised sources as the rest of the home — Sky HD, Apple TV and the digital music server — all controllable from the same iPad interface.

A flat panel suits a room used as much for sport and everyday viewing as for films: it stays bright with the lights on and leaves the basement ceiling clear of a projector. Basements are acoustically well suited to cinema rooms, because the mass of the surrounding ground provides natural isolation from the rest of the house. The room is covered in full in its own basement cinema case study.

Whole-Home AV Across Three Distinct Spaces

This installation is a useful reference for clients who want a whole-home audio video system that genuinely serves very different spaces within the same property. The audiophile listening room, the casual family kitchen and the dedicated basement cinema each have their own acoustic and functional requirements, but share a single centralised source infrastructure and a single consistent control interface. That is the point of a properly designed Crestron system: one architecture, many uses, total flexibility.

Frequently Asked Questions — Pimlico Whole-Home System

Can one Crestron system serve an audiophile room and a family kitchen equally well?
Yes. This installation proves it — the same centralised source infrastructure feeds a dedicated Bowers & Wilkins listening room with reference-level stereo amplification and a casual kitchen TV, both controlled from an identical iPad interface.

Does a high-end stereo room compromise on convenience?
No. The Bowers & Wilkins listening room in this property retains a dedicated high-quality amplifier for serious listening, while still being fully integrated into the whole-home Crestron system — the same iPad that controls the kitchen TV can route the music server to the listening room.

Is the basement cinema connected to the same system?
Yes. The basement cinema accesses the same centralised Sky HD, Apple TV and music server sources as the rest of the home, controlled from the same iPad interface — read the full basement cinema case study for details.

How many audio and video zones does the house have?
The Crestron system serves five audio zones and two video zones, all fed from one centralised rack of sources.

Can every room play the same music at once?
Yes. Rooms can play the same source in sync, as a party mode that fills the house from kitchen to garden, or run completely independently.

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Project Gallery

The photographs show the kitchen audio video system and the Crestron iPad interface used to control the television and sources. The iPad is the same interface used in every room, from the kitchen to the basement cinema. The final image shows the high-end stereo listening room with its Bowers & Wilkins floor-standing speakers.