Private houses · A family home over fifteen years

A family home over fifteen years: 13-zone Sonos, 4K to seven screens and M&K surround, built up job by job

Fifteen years ago a client we had just finished with told us to go and knock on a neighbour’s door. We did. We have been back to that house ever since, adding to the cabling we put in during its first renovation, and it now runs a 13-zone Sonos system, 4K video to seven screens, an M&K entertainment room, Elan control, Ruckus Wi-Fi and a fibre backbone to the new extension.

Client

Private family, long-standing

Site

A family home, extended over the years

Scope

Infrastructure, 13-zone audio, 8×8 4K distribution, entertainment room, control, Wi-Fi, extension

Control

Elan G1

The building

A home is an investment, and a lot changes in fifteen years. When this house was in the early stages of its renovation, Lairds installed a cabling infrastructure sized for the technology of the day and for plenty that came later. It adds to the initial cost; it has made every upgrade since easier and cheaper, which is why we always recommend it. The audio and video distribution of the whole house runs on it.

The latest work came when the family added three bedrooms and a garage. They brought us in at the design stage, so we extended the Cat 6 and ran a fibre backbone from the attic to the ground floor in step with the other trades.

What we designed

Audio is a 13-zone Sonos system across almost every room, which at the time of installation was a size of Sonos system almost unheard of; it worked without a compromise on sound or connectivity. Video is distributed from a Pulse-Eight 8×8 HDBaseT matrix to six 4K screens and the 75-inch 4K screen in the entertainment room, using three types of receiver to suit each location and cable run. Sync boxes recessed into the walls bring the plug depth down to ten millimetres so every screen sits flush.

The entertainment room is the centrepiece: the 75-inch screen with a 5.1 M&K Sound system on a Yamaha receiver with MusicCast, so it streams music when the television is off and takes voice commands through Alexa, with Sky and Blu-ray as sources and room for more. The Elan G1 system ties the audio, video, lighting, heating and security together, with a Nest thermostat for the underfloor heating on timers through the same interface. Ruckus Unleashed provides the Wi-Fi. The rack sits in a remote part of the house and the cabling runs unseen through the walls. See our smart home service.

The entertainment room

Entertainment room with 75-inch 4K screen and M&K Sound 5.1 surround in the family home

What we handed over

Fifteen years of work that still reads as one system: discreet, clean and operational, with the capacity to take the next upgrade. A relationship that started with a knock on the door.

What went in

Structured cabling from the first renovation, extended with Cat 6 and a fibre backbone for the extension
13-zone Sonos audio
Pulse-Eight 8×8 HDBaseT 100 m matrix with 70 m, 100 m and amplified receivers; six 4K screens and a 75-inch 4K screen
M&K Sound 5.1 on a Yamaha MusicCast receiver
Elan G1 control with Nest heating integration
Ruckus Unleashed wireless
Sync box recessed wall modules