Private houses · Ayrshire

A modern mansion, Ayrshire: 19 audio zones, 14 screens and a pool suite, wired in a fortnight

A substantial house restoration with two weeks to design, quote and get the cabling in ahead of the other trades, while the client lived between two rooms and the kitchen. Lairds designed the house as if every room would one day be fully equipped, then built 4K video to 14 screens, 19 audio zones, a pool suite and a garden on one RTI system.

Cabling

More than 12 km of certified Cat 6 and a fibre backbone

The building

This was every installer’s ideal job and every installer’s worst nightmare at once. A big residence restoration, two weeks to get the design and quote signed off and the cabling complete ahead of the other trades, and a client living on site between two rooms and the kitchen. They had moved from a fully equipped smart home and expected nothing less here, with every room entertained and served, and the simplest possible control, because they had no interest in technology for its own sake.

We designed the infrastructure as though every room would be fully equipped, so that anything could be added later: more than 12 kilometres of certified Cat 6 and a fibre backbone, with a monitored network behind it. As the project went on the requirements were added to, subtracted and negotiated, while we kept the cabling ahead of the award-winning tradesmen around us. The first systems online were the ones the client would use every day, because they were effectively living on a building site.

What we designed

Video runs on WyreStorm NetworkHD over its own dedicated network, bridged to the main network, carrying 4K from any source to any of the 14 screens and switchable in milliseconds from a phone or a panel. Sources are four Sky Q boxes, a 4K media server, Blu-ray, and a digital signage player that puts family photographs and artwork on any screen. The screens include an Aquavision mirror television and an Aquavision Horizon outdoor screen at the pool. Control throughout is RTI: customised touch panels room by room, an app on any iOS device, and voice.

In the kitchen, the dining space has a 65-inch 4K OLED on a Future Automation articulated mount with in-wall box, with audio extracted to a Yamaha amplifier and played through invisible Amina Edge plaster-over speakers and a subwoofer; the cooking area and island have their own pair of Sonance 4-inch speakers that become a sub-zone for a kitchen party. The main living room has full in-ceiling M&K Sound surround, subwoofers built into the cabinetry under the bay window, and a 55-inch 4K OLED. Hallways run on Sonance 4-inch speakers you can barely see; every bedroom is its own zone with 4K video and Sonance audio; the en-suites have Aquavision audio and video.

The pool suite, a new building, has four zones: Sonance Extreme series over the pool, a pair of speakers over the jacuzzi for quieter evenings, the Horizon screen overlooking the water, and a gym with a four-screen video wall, four Sonance speakers and an in-ceiling subwoofer. The sauna and steam room are a sub-zone with no visible speakers, and the decking outside continues the sound to the patio, where two sets of Sonance garden speakers cover the landscaped garden as a single zone. Waterproof tablets control the pool area. Ruckus wireless, ten access points inside and out, covers the whole property. See our smart home and home network services.

The house

What went in

• WyreStorm NetworkHD 4K video distribution: controller, rack, six transmitters and seven receivers; Zappiti media server
• RTI control: XP-6 and two XP-8v processors, AD-16XC and AD-8x audio distribution, three CP-1650 amplifiers, four KX2 and two KX7 touch panels
• Ruckus ZoneFlex R510U wireless, ten units; Draytek router; three Araknis 24-port PoE switches
• M&K Sound IW150 and IW95 in-ceiling surround; two Sonance BPS8 subwoofers on a DSP2-150 amplifier
• Sonance VP46R and VP65R in-ceiling speakers throughout, Sonance Extreme in the pool, two sets of Sonance garden speakers
• Two Amina Edge 7 invisible speakers with protection units and back boxes
• Yamaha RX-A3070 and RX-A670 receivers
• Aquavision mirror and Horizon screens; 65-inch and 55-inch 4K OLEDs; Future Automation wall mount and in-wall box

Alloway, Ayr

Whole-home wiring, Control4 and a managed network

A house with a lot of rooms?

The wiring decides what the house can do for the next twenty years. Talk to us before the programme is set.