Crestron Audio Video Systems — 4K Distribution & Multi-Room Audio

Any Source, Any Room, Any Quality

The way audio and video moves around a luxury home has changed fundamentally with Crestron NVX and NAX. Where previous generations of AV distribution required dedicated matrix switchers with fixed inputs and outputs, Crestron’s AV-over-IP approach uses the property’s data network as the distribution backbone — meaning any source anywhere in the property can be routed to any display or speaker anywhere else, with no fixed routing constraints, no signal degradation over distance and no practical limit on the number of zones the system supports. A source installed in a plant room in the basement appears on a touchpanel in the penthouse master bedroom and a screen at the pool, simultaneously, at full 4K HDR quality. Custom Controls have been designing and installing Crestron AV systems since 1998 and are five-time Crestron Integration Award winners.

Crestron NVX — 4K Video Distribution Over IP

Crestron NVX is an AV-over-IP system that encodes video at source and distributes it across a standard IP network to any number of receiving endpoints simultaneously. The encoder sits alongside the source in the rack — a Sky box, Kaleidescape server, Apple TV, gaming console or any HDMI device — and the decoder sits behind each display anywhere in the property. Both communicate over Cat6 or fibre, the same infrastructure the property’s data network uses.

The practical effect is that there are no fixed matrix connections to manage. Any encoder can feed any decoder or group of decoders at any time, controlled entirely through the Crestron programme. A client watching a recording in the master bedroom can continue it in the kitchen without losing their place. The same live sport can appear on every screen in the house simultaneously. NVX handles 4K HDR at HDCP 2.2 — no quality compromise at any distance, across any number of displays.

For large properties and multi-building estates, NVX is particularly powerful. A source rack in a central plant room serves every building on the estate over fibre runs — the same source library available at the main house, the guest cottage and the pool house, with no need for duplicated equipment in each location.

Crestron NAX — Multi-Room Audio at Any Scale

Crestron NAX takes the same IP-based distribution approach to audio. NAX amplifiers are placed close to their speaker loads — in ceiling voids, in local equipment cupboards — rather than being centralised in a rack. Each amplifier channel is independently addressable over the IP network, receives its audio stream digitally, and drives its speakers with no analogue signal path between the source and the amplifier output.

Each NAX channel can play a completely independent audio source simultaneously — one zone plays Spotify, another plays a radio station, a third plays the audio track from the NVX video source in the same room. In a large estate with forty audio zones across multiple buildings, each zone is independently controllable, groupable for parties and accessible from any Crestron interface in the property or from the Crestron app anywhere in the world.

NAX also integrates natively with streaming services. Each amplifier channel includes built-in streaming capability — so music can be delivered to any zone without a separate streaming device per room. Sonos and Bluesound zones sit alongside NAX zones in the same Crestron interface, giving clients access to whichever platform they prefer from a single consistent control point.

Kaleidescape Integration

For home cinema installations, Crestron integrates natively with Kaleidescape — the reference-quality movie server that stores and plays back films at full uncompressed Blu-ray quality with lossless Dolby Atmos audio. The Kaleidescape movie list appears on the Crestron touchpanel; selecting a film triggers the full cinema scene — projector on, screen deployed, processor set to the correct input, lighting dimmed, blinds closed — without the client touching anything other than the film title. Read more about Kaleidescape →

Whole-Home AV — Our Approach

The design of a Crestron AV system begins with understanding how the household actually uses media — not specifying hardware. We establish which sources the family uses daily, which rooms need independent control, which spaces are used together and when, and what the interface needs to feel like for non-technical users. The source library, the routing logic, the grouping behaviour, the naming conventions and the scene triggers are all designed before any equipment is ordered.

Every Crestron AV rack we build is pre-built and pre-programmed at our workshop. Sources are connected, routing is tested, streaming services are configured and the programme is verified against the design documentation before the rack leaves our facility. On-site commissioning involves connecting the rack to the building’s network and AV endpoints, confirming all displays and speakers are operating correctly, and walking through the finished interface with the client. It does not involve building a system from components on site.

Five-Time Crestron Integration Award Winners

Custom Controls have won the Crestron Integration Award five consecutive times — a record unique in EMEA, earning us Dealer of Distinction status. Our Dubai estate installation — eight processors, 72 audio zones, 32 video zones, over 400 lighting channels across two villas — won Best International Project in EMEA. The quality of the AV design and programming on that installation, and on every installation since 1998, is what those awards recognise.

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