Basement Home Cinema Installation — Baker Street, London

Full Crestron Digital Media Equipped Basement Home Cinema

This basement home cinema room sits within the same Baker Street townhouse as our award-winning whole-home Crestron installation — the project that won Custom Controls the Crestron Integration Award for Most Innovative Control Solution, and the first Crestron Digital Media installation in the UK. The client has access to a full range of centralised sources — Sky HD, Kaleidescape DVD server, ArabSat, Apple TV and radio — all displayed on a Panasonic 50″ HD Plasma with a Bowers & Wilkins CM9 boxed speaker system providing the audio. This room reportedly has the most daily use of any cinema we have ever installed: when the family is in residence, the children use it every day, and after bedtime the clients use it for films as a couple.

The System

Although closer in design to our living room cinema systems, this dedicated basement room genuinely performs. Its compact scale allows the speaker system to create an immersive experience that a larger room with the same equipment would not produce. The Bowers & Wilkins CM9 speakers — front left, centre and right — are bookshelf-format but deliver a full, rich sound stage well suited to both film and music. The Kaleidescape server stores the client’s DVD and CD collection for instant access, and the Denon AVR decodes and distributes all sources cleanly.

Our Home Cinema Services

Crestron Control

A Crestron 6″ radio touchpanel controls all audio video sources alongside full heating and Crestron lighting control. One button press switches all equipment on and routes the correct source automatically. The same touchpanel philosophy runs throughout the rest of the property — this cinema room draws on the same centralised Crestron sources and control system as every other room in the award-winning whole-home installation. The system has been mastered easily by non-English-speaking family and staff — a measure of how well-designed the Crestron interface is when programmed correctly.

Part of an Award-Winning Installation

This cinema room is one element of the wider Baker Street whole-home Crestron system — eight audio zones, eight HD video zones, full lighting control, Axis IP CCTV and the first UK installation of Crestron Digital Media, all integrated into a single interface. That installation won the pan-European 2010 Crestron Integration Award for Most Innovative Control Solution, one of five consecutive Crestron Integration Award wins that earned Custom Controls its unique Dealer of Distinction status in EMEA.

Where It Started

This Baker Street installation is one of Custom Controls’ earliest documented cinema case studies — from the company’s first decade. The Crestron system installed in this basement in the early 2000s was built on exactly the same philosophy as the Crestron systems we install today: one interface for everything, programmed bespoke for how the client actually uses the room. For clients who want evidence that Custom Controls has been delivering consistent-quality, award-winning Crestron installations for longer than most of our competitors have been in business, this basement cinema is one of the earliest available reference points.

Frequently Asked Questions — Baker Street Cinema

Is this cinema room part of the award-winning Baker Street installation?
Yes. This basement cinema sits within the same townhouse as our whole-home Crestron system, which won the pan-European 2010 Crestron Integration Award for Most Innovative Control Solution as the first UK installation of Crestron Digital Media.

How long has this Crestron system been running?
This is one of Custom Controls’ earliest documented cinema installations, dating from the company’s first decade, built on the same philosophy used in every system we deliver today.

Can a compact basement room deliver genuine cinema performance?
Yes. The smaller scale of this room actually works in its favour — the Bowers & Wilkins CM9 speaker system creates a more immersive experience here than the same equipment would produce in a larger space.

Is a Crestron system easy to use for the whole household?
Yes. This installation has been used daily for years by both English and non-English-speaking family members and staff, with one button press switching on every piece of equipment automatically.

Project Details

• Location: Baker Street, London
• Display: 50″ Panasonic HD Plasma
• Audio: Bowers & Wilkins CM9 — Denon AVR
• Sources: Sky HD, Kaleidescape, ArabSat, Apple TV
• Control: Crestron 6″ radio touchpanel
• Part of: Award-winning whole-home Crestron installation — Most Innovative Control Solution

Baker Street Whole-Home Crestron Installation → · Home Cinema Installation → · Crestron → · London Office →

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