Crestron Audio Visual Installation — Primrose Hill, London

A Four-Floor Townhouse, One Crestron Interface

This townhouse on one of Primrose Hill’s most desirable streets benefits from a full Crestron multi-room audio video system spanning all four floors. All video zones can access centralised Virgin Media TiVo and Apple TVs, and audio zones draw from an Autonomic MMS digital media server providing internet radio, Spotify and the client’s music collection. The international client particularly values the ability to stream local radio from the US and Australia alongside UK stations. One button press joins the master bedroom suite, or the open-plan family room, dining room and kitchen, together — allowing the family to move freely without missing a moment of their content. This is high-end home entertainment at its best.

Centralised Sources, Every Room

Rather than placing a TV box, streamer and music source in every room, the system centralises its source equipment and distributes it to every screen and speaker in the house. The Virgin Media TiVo boxes and Apple TVs are available in all four video zones, and the Autonomic MMS server feeds all eight audio zones. As on every whole-house system we design, each room operates independently by default: someone watching television in one room doesn’t affect anyone else. Rooms can also be joined at a single button press, so music started in the kitchen can follow the family into the dining room and family room without anyone touching a second control.

The whole system, from the living room cinema to the kitchen television, is controlled from a single Crestron iPad interface. It is a clean, uncluttered way to live with technology across four floors: one set of sources to manage and update, no boxes or cables in the living spaces and one interface that everyone in the family can use. The five services below formed the core of the installation.

Living Room Home Cinema

The formal living room has a retractable projector screen that drops from the ceiling when required and retracts when the system is off, leaving the room as a conventional reception room the rest of the time. The SIM2 projector is housed on a custom shelving unit designed and built by our in-house carpenters, so it sits within the room’s joinery rather than hanging from the ceiling. Origin Acoustics in-ceiling speakers paired with a Denon AVR provide a high-quality soundtrack for the centralised TV sources, a local Blu-ray player and a turntable.

Lighting in the room is controlled by a Lutron Grafik Eye mood lighting system, integrated into the same Crestron iPad interface as the audio and video. The screen, projector, sound and lighting are all operated from that one interface, which is what allows a single room to work as both a formal living space and a cinema.

Family Living Room and Kitchen Zones

The family living room on the lower ground floor has a 55-inch Samsung TV with 10-inch Origin Acoustics in-ceiling speakers — large enough drivers to deliver real low-end bass without a subwoofer, keeping the installation completely clean. That is a result commodity in-ceiling speakers simply cannot achieve, and it is one of the reasons we specify Origin wherever ceiling speakers have to carry a room on their own. The open-plan kitchen and dining areas join seamlessly with the family room via room grouping.

A wall-mounted kitchen TV shows the same centralised sources, with stereo Origin Acoustics ceiling speakers providing audio. Because every screen draws from the same equipment, a programme started in the family room can be picked up in the kitchen, and the same music can play through the family room, dining area and kitchen as one zone or as three independent ones.

Music Throughout the House

Music comes from an Autonomic MMS digital media server, which brings together Spotify, the client’s own music collection and internet radio in one library. For this internationally connected family, the ability to stream local stations from the US and Australia alongside UK radio is a detail the client particularly values. With eight audio zones across four floors, any room can play any source, and the master bedroom suite can be joined into a single zone at a button press.

WiFi and Intercom

A Pakedge wireless LAN controller and access points throughout the property provide fast, reliable WiFi, optimised for a family with multiple devices streaming simultaneously. Pakedge is one of the enterprise-grade platforms we specify in place of consumer mesh systems, which struggle with the thick walls and substantial floor structures of a London townhouse. The controller manages every access point as part of one network across all four floors.

A BPT colour LCD intercom panel on every floor provides two-way communication with the front door video entry system. Visitors can be seen and answered from any level of the house, without anyone needing to go downstairs to find out who is at the door.

Primrose Hill — North London at Its Best

Primrose Hill townhouses typically have three or four floors with distinct living zones across each level. The Crestron system installed here manages all of them from a single iPad interface — cinema in the formal living room, family TV on the lower ground floor, music flowing through every space — and allows them to operate independently or together at a single button press. For London clients, our London office designs, installs and supports systems like this across the capital’s townhouses and apartments.

Frequently Asked Questions — Primrose Hill Townhouse

Can Crestron manage multiple floors of a London townhouse from one interface?
Yes. This four-floor Primrose Hill townhouse is managed entirely from a single Crestron iPad interface — audio, video, lighting and intercom across every floor, with rooms joinable or independent at a single button press.

Can a Crestron system stream international radio stations?
Yes. This installation uses an Autonomic MMS digital media server providing Spotify, the client’s own music collection and internet radio — including stations from the US and Australia for an internationally connected family, alongside UK stations.

Can a living room have a retractable cinema screen?
Yes. The formal living room in this property has a projector screen that drops from the ceiling on demand and retracts fully when not in use, paired with a SIM2 projector, a Denon AVR and Origin Acoustics in-ceiling speakers.

Can in-ceiling speakers deliver real bass without a subwoofer?
With the right speaker, yes. The family living room uses 10-inch Origin Acoustics in-ceiling speakers, whose drivers are large enough to deliver real low-end bass without a subwoofer, keeping the installation completely clean.

How many audio and video zones does the house have?
The system has eight audio zones, four video zones and two surround sound zones, all fed from centralised sources and controlled through Crestron.

Crestron Installer London → · Multi-Room Audio and Video → · Lutron Installer London → · Origin Acoustics Speakers → · WiFi and Networking → · London Office →

Project Gallery

The images show the lower ground floor family room from both ends, with its wall-mounted TV, flush Origin Acoustics ceiling speakers and the Crestron iPad on a side table, looking through to the dining area. The kitchen television sits beneath the rooflight at the rear of the house. The final image shows the formal living room with the projector screen lowered above the fireplace and the custom shelving unit that houses the SIM2 projector.