How to turn your home into a high tech hideaway
Posted on 01. Feb, 2009 by Rob in Cuttings, Gadgets, Grand Designs, Hi-Fi and AV, Technology
One of the biggest benefits of choosing custom install is that enables all the technology in your home to melt away unseen. Here’s how
One of the inevitable consequences of our passion for music, movies, video games and computers is that our homes can end up looking more like electronic shops than somewhere we like to call home – and that’s without resolving the problems caused by all the accompanying detritus – the CDs, DVDs, etc. You know things are out of hand when that tasty bookshelf you bought no longer has any room for your books. It’s time for you to take action.
Luckily you don’t have to excise all of this stuff completely. With a little thought, a decent amount of money and the services of a friendly custom installer, you really can turn your home into a high tech paradise and reclaim your living space at the same time.
One of the easiest ways to do this, of course, is to hide the obviously bulky items that intruding into your living space in the first place. Bookshelf or floor standing speakers can be replaced by in-wall or in-ceiling equivalents, bulky room amplifiers can make way for alternatives that fit into the ceiling void.
Gadgets go bespoke
Custom installers also often hide electronics away in racks in specially constructed cupboards, or can create false walls that make this stuff virtually undetectable until it’s called into action. In many cases the only way you’d notice anything at all is with the presence of a wall-mounted or free-standing touchpanel that enables you to fire up your system so you can enjoy music and movies in the room that you’re in, or even across your whole home.
The really clever stuff though has the ring of a James Bond villain’s lair about it – projector screens can magically disappear into the ceiling, flat panel TVs can be summoned from innocuous-looking cabinetry or the floor.
While many of these solutions are generic – TV lifts, for example – most custom installers can find solutions to your specific needs, while also taking the fabric of the building into account. Given the extensive amount of work involved custom install solutions like this are best achieved as part of a major refurb or new build, with power, control and audio-video signal cables being chased into ceilings and walls.
Harley Street case study
One place where a custom installation has proved to be a resounding success has been a in penthouse apartment near London’s Harley Street. There custom installer Grahams Hi-Fi used a range of solutions from Future Automation to provide the client with everything they needed.
These included hiding a Meridian projector inside an unused window space, installing a sliding panel system that enabled a plasma TV to disappear into a wall, and a drop-down projector screen that’s been stowed inside the ceiling recess.
Of course taking control of your home entertainment needs in this way doesn’t come cheap – custom install prices can range from a few thousand to several tens of thousands of pounds. However it’s also arguably the best solution when it comes to truly clutter-free, robust and reliable hi-tech living. You can find a list of custom installers at the Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association website.
Media servers
Your custom installer will also happily recommend solutions to your music and movie storage needs including media servers from the likes of Imerge, Living Control and Kaleidescape. These can easily be stowed alongside other consumer electronics, with control over the content being offered by in-wall or free-standing touch panels, or even PDAs.
If this all sounds beyond your budget, then there is one alternative that’s fast gaining credence among some home cinema experts and enthusiasts: remote server farms that can serve up movies whenever and wherever you want them.
Custom install expert Steve Moore seems particularly enamoured by the Apple TV – a £199-£269 box that can used to conjure up high definition movies over the internet. It’s small, unobtrusive and can easily sit underneath or behind a living room TV and, as Steve Moore puts it, gives alternative solutions a pretty good run for their money in terms of sound and picture quality. Other video-on-demand solutions include those from BT Vision and HomeChoice.
Another alternative worth considering for music fans is the Sonos multi-room system (£699 for a two-room bundle), which can be used to stream content stored on your PC to multiple zones. Again the Sonos is remarkably unobtrusive and has a great user interface. You can even control it using your iPhone.
Products
Beamax X-Series Dellegno
£1,899 • Beamax 0800 917 5943 • www.beamax.co.uk
Designed to look like a piece of free-standing furniture, the Dellegno actually encompasses a 80-inch projector screen that magically glides into view at the push of a button. The high quality cabinet can even be customised to suit your decor, with Beamax boasting that it’s available in any colour that meets RAL or NCS codes. The cabinet comes with its own RF remote control, but can be configured to work with other home automation gear too.
Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 5 / BeoMaster 5
£3,500 • Bang & Olufsen 00 45 96 84 45 25 • www.bang-olufsen.com
This typically idiosyncratic device from B&O gives you complete control over a music collection that can be stored out of sight on the accompanying BeoMaster 5 media server. The user interface combines an aluminium selection dial with a slick graphic display to present your collection in an intuitive and visually pleasing fashion. It can also be used to create intelligent playlists based on the rhythm, syncopation and other common elements found in the music that you love.
Meridian 300 series in-wall speakers
£1,075 • Meridian Audio 01480 445678 • www.meridian-audio.com
Chiefly famous for making fabulous-sounding free-standing speakers, Meridian also does a nice line in in-wall versions too. The 300 series range comprises three different sized models to suit your rooms acoustics and can be driven using on-board or off-board amplifiers. The speakers come with a rigid enclosure to minimise unwanted vibrations, while the white speaker grills can also be painted to suit your decor.
OmniMount Lift42
£750 • OmniMount 01280 850004 • www.omnimount.com
Essentially an unsexy combination of brackets, bolts, chains and motors, the Lift42 can transform any room into something very desirable indeed. Tha’s because it’s capable of lifting any flat panel TV from 37-inches to 42-inches in size almost silently (less than 50dB) out of a bespoke cabinet, or even from the foot of the bed. Best used as part of a complete custom install solution.
Mini hi-fi systems for £500 or less
Sony NAS-555HDE GigaJuke
£499.99 • Sony UK 08705 111999 • www.sony.co.uk
Ideal for use in a bedroom, kids’ room or lounge, the GigaJuke comes with a built-in 80GB hard disk drive for storing up to 40,000 songs, as well as a CD player, RDS FM/AM radio and a pair of 85W per channel speakers. We particularly like its large 4.3-inch colour LCD, which makes it easy to find the songs that you want.
Denon D-M37DAB
£300 • Denon 01234 741200 • www.denon.co.uk
Denon’s become synonymous with great-sounding mini hi-fis and this one is no exception. Available in black or silver, the D-M37DAB comprises a CD player, FM/AM/DAB tuner and a 30W per channel stereo amp inside a single unit, with sounds being fed to pair of off-board speakers. Other key features MP3 player connectivity, plus a subwoofer output enabling bass lovers to add extra bite.
Vita Audio R4
From £500 • Vita Audio 01702 601410 • www.vitaaudio.com
A stylish alternative to traditional mini systems the R4 is available in a range of real wood veneer or high gloss lacquer finishes and includes a a CD player, DAB/FM radio, an iPod dock and a pair of auxiliary connections for other MP3 players. Best of all, it even has its own speakers, including a subwoofer on board, and sounds great into the bargain.
Philips MCi500H
£499 • Philips 0870 900 9070 • www.philips.co.uk
Behind the gloss black finish and colour display lies a 160GB hard disk for storing your audio files, plus a CD player, RDS FM / internet radio and a 50W per channel digital amplifier. Its killer feature though is its built-in wireless connection, enabling you to stream music wirelessly to up to five different rooms in your home using optional NP1100 network music players.
Green Gadget
Morphy Richards Eco Toaster
£34.99 + £3.95 p&p • Nigel’s EcoStore 0800 288 8970 • www.nigelsecostore.com
Now you can warm your crumpets and cool the planet at the same time. This 2-slice toaster uses a 34 per cent less energy than conventional designs, thanks to the presence of an auto-close lid that traps the heat inside. This simple idea also enables it to toast more quickly. Approved by the Carbon Trust.
Originally published in the February 2009
issue of Grand Designs Magazine.
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