Hi-Fi & High End Audio Installation | Independent Specialists

Designers & Installers of the World’s Best Hi-Fi Solutions

There is a moment in a great hi-fi system when the performance stops being impressive and starts being moving. When the recording artist is in the room with you. When you hear detail in a piece of music you have listened to hundreds of times as though for the first time. When the system itself disappears entirely, and only the music remains. This is what a properly designed and installed high end audio system sounds like. And it is what Custom Controls has been delivering for private clients since 1998.

We are not a hi-fi shop. We have no demonstration room stock to clear, no manufacturer agreements to honour, and no incentive to recommend anything other than the system that is genuinely right for you. Our advice is completely independent. Our installation is carried out by our own engineers. And our relationship with you does not end at the point of purchase — we remain available for system support, upgrades, and acoustic refinement for as long as you own the system.

Why Independence Matters — No Targets. No Tie-Ins. No Compromises.

The high end audio industry is extraordinarily varied. Exceptional equipment exists at many price points — alongside products that perform well below their marketing. Navigating it without independent guidance is genuinely difficult, and the consequences of a poor recommendation are significant: speakers that don’t suit the room, amplification that doesn’t match the load, a source component that bottlenecks the rest of the system. Because we carry no stock, have no manufacturer agreements, and operate no showroom, we are entirely free to specify whatever will perform best in your room, with your music, for your ears. We have access to manufacturer demonstration facilities across the industry and regularly arrange in-home demonstrations — allowing you to audition equipment in your own room, with your own music, before committing.

We are also candid about the more speculative end of the market. The audio industry has no shortage of products making extraordinary claims. Our recommendations are grounded in experience, listening tests, and the measurable performance of components — not received wisdom, fashion, or margin.

Designed for Your Room — The Room Is Part of the System.

No two hi-fi installations are alike — and the most common reason a high end system disappoints is that it has been chosen and installed without sufficient regard for the room in which it will be used. Room dimensions affect bass frequencies. Parallel surfaces create standing waves. Hard surfaces cause reflections that blur imaging and fatigue the listener. A system that performs brilliantly in a manufacturer’s listening room may perform very differently in a domestic space with furniture, soft furnishings, and an irregular layout.

We begin every hi-fi project with a detailed consultation. We listen to what you listen to, and how you listen to it. We assess the acoustic properties of the room — measuring where needed, listening carefully to what the measurements don’t capture. We understand your existing equipment and what specifically you are hoping to improve. Only then do we begin to specify.

The Full Signal Chain — From Source to Speaker

A high end audio system is only as good as its weakest component. We design every system as a coherent whole, considering each element of the signal chain as part of a single, unified design.

Source & Digital Audio

Whether you listen to vinyl, high-resolution digital files, CD, or streaming services such as Tidal and Qobuz, we specify source equipment that extracts every detail from your music. For digital sources, DAC specification is often the most significant single upgrade available to an existing system. We have extensive experience with digital music servers, network streamers, and integrating high-quality streaming with physical media collections — vinyl collections alongside high-resolution digital, co-existing without compromise.

Amplification

Amplifier selection is one of the most subjective and consequential decisions in a hi-fi system. We specify across a wide range — solid state and valve, integrated and separates — and our recommendation is based entirely on sonic compatibility with your speakers, the acoustic character of your room, and your personal listening preferences. We have worked with amplification from the world’s leading manufacturers and have no commercial relationship with any of them.

Speakers & Placement

Speaker selection and placement are inseparable from room acoustics. We specify speakers that suit the room — in terms of bass loading, sensitivity, dispersion characteristics, and physical scale — and we position them for optimal imaging and frequency response. Where the room itself requires treatment — panels, diffusers, bass traps — we design and install acoustic solutions that are sympathetic to your interior while transforming the sonic performance of the space. In the past we have installed systems from Magico, PMC, Bowers & Wilkins, and Artcoustic — always chosen for the specific application, never from habit or relationship.

Cables, Interconnects & Racking

The final layer of a high end system — cabling, interconnects, mains conditioning, and equipment support — is frequently underestimated. We specify and install cabling matched to the components in the system, and we approach equipment racking with the same seriousness as the equipment itself. We have solutions for equipment proudly on display and for equipment concealed entirely from the room — custom racking, remote amplifier installations, and equipment rooms that keep the listening space completely uncluttered.

Trinnov Amethyst — The Dedicated High-End Stereo Flagship

The Trinnov Amethyst is Trinnov’s flagship high-end stereo product — and the only unit in their range designed from the ground up specifically for the domestic audiophile. On a single chassis it combines a fully featured 12-input audiophile preamplifier, a 24-bit/192kHz DAC, a Roon Ready network renderer, a HybriD Phono stage for vinyl playback, an intelligent 2-way active crossover engine, and the full Trinnov Optimizer room correction system. For a client building or refining a serious dedicated listening room, the Amethyst is the natural centre of the system.

What distinguishes the Trinnov Optimizer from other room correction approaches is the precision of its measurement method. Rather than placing a single microphone at the listening position and applying corrective EQ, the Amethyst uses Trinnov’s proprietary tetrahedral 3D microphone — four capsules arranged in three dimensions — to map the geometric position of every speaker in the room to within a centimetre and a degree of arc. It builds an acoustic model of the room as a physical space, then applies corrections that are coherent in three dimensions simultaneously. The result is not a compromise between different seats — it is a sound field that is accurate across the whole listening area.

In practice, the effect on an existing system is immediate and consistent. Reviewers have noted a dramatic tightening of bass definition and midrange focus following calibration, with improved soundstage depth and a clarity on complex material that equipment upgrades alone had not achieved. The improvement is most striking in rooms that are acoustically difficult — asymmetric layouts, hard reflective surfaces, adjacent open spaces — exactly the conditions that characterise most domestic listening rooms. The Amethyst does not require a perfect room. It corrects for the room you have.

What the Amethyst Does — in Practice

Sources — streaming via Roon, physical digital inputs at up to 24-bit/192kHz, or vinyl through the built-in phono stage — pass through the preamp stage, through the Optimizer, and out to a power amplifier of your choosing. Volume control is implemented digitally at 64-bit floating point resolution, ensuring no loss of resolution at any listening level. The system is controlled via an iOS app, providing source selection, volume, input configuration and Optimizer calibration from a single screen.

For systems running a subwoofer or active speaker configuration, the Amethyst’s 2-way active crossover engine manages the frequency handover between main speakers and bass drivers with the same precision it applies to room correction — independently optimising each element rather than treating the speaker-subwoofer combination as a single acoustic entity.

We supply, install and fully calibrate the Trinnov Amethyst as part of complete hi-fi system installations. Contact us to arrange a consultation →

Trinnov Nova — Professional Room Correction as an Alternative

For clients whose existing system already includes a high-quality preamplifier they wish to retain, Trinnov offer an alternative route to Optimizer-level room correction: the Trinnov Nova. Where the Amethyst is a complete integrated system centrepiece, the Nova is a dedicated room optimizer and monitor controller — originally developed for professional mixing and mastering studios — that inserts between an existing preamplifier and power amplifier, applying Trinnov Optimizer correction without replacing the rest of the signal chain.

The Nova accepts analogue and digital sources, applies the full Trinnov Optimizer correction using the same 3D measurement microphone as the Amethyst, and passes the corrected signal to downstream amplification. It supports up to six channels of optimised output — sufficient for stereo and 2.1 configurations with independent correction applied to both the main speakers and subwoofer channels separately. A hardware bypass engages when correction is not required, leaving the signal path completely unaltered.

The Nova is the right choice where the existing preamplifier is an important part of the system’s character — a valued valve preamp, a DAC with a particular sonic signature, or a preamplifier that handles source switching and input management that the Amethyst would replicate unnecessarily. For new systems designed from the outset around Trinnov correction, the Amethyst’s integrated approach is typically the more elegant and technically coherent solution.

We supply, install and calibrate both the Trinnov Amethyst and the Nova, and are happy to advise on which is the right approach for your specific system and room. Contact us to discuss →

The Listening Environment — The Best Speakers in the World Still Need the Right Room.

Acoustic consultancy is an area that most hi-fi retailers never address — because they sell you the equipment and leave. We do not. Our acoustic consultancy service analyses the specific characteristics of your listening room and makes recommendations across a spectrum of interventions — from the placement of a single panel or the repositioning of a listening chair, through to a comprehensive acoustic treatment programme involving bespoke panels, diffusers, and bass management. We work with interior designers and architects to ensure that any acoustic treatment is sympathetic to the design of the room — effective without being intrusive.

For clients commissioning a dedicated listening room as part of a new build or renovation, we can be involved from the architectural stage — advising on room dimensions, surface treatments, isolation from adjacent spaces, and equipment room location — to ensure the finished room performs as well as the system installed within it.

Integration with your home

A dedicated hi-fi system does not need to be isolated from the rest of your home technology. We regularly design systems in which a high-performance two-channel listening system integrates seamlessly with a whole-home audio distribution system — so the same music library feeds both the dedicated listening room and the rest of the property. The two-channel system operates at full performance for dedicated listening. The distribution system handles background audio throughout the home. One library. One interface. No compromise in either direction.

Where a home cinema room also exists, we consider the relationship between the cinema’s surround system and the hi-fi from the outset, designing both to perform at their best independently while sharing sources where it makes practical sense.

Inherited a Hi-Fi or Music System That Has Never Sounded Right?

We regularly take over and rescue existing hi-fi and music systems — installed by a previous company, assembled piecemeal over the years, or simply never properly set up. Mismatched components, incorrect speaker placement, an amplifier poorly matched to its speakers, or a system that has simply never been calibrated are all common, and all fixable. We assess what is there, identify what is holding the system back, and put it right — including, where appropriate, a full Trinnov Optimizer room correction pass. Read more about our system takeover, repair and renovation service →