Finite Solutions Show House

Whole house control from the kitchen
The kitchen features a 6 inch TSP6L Crestron control touch screen to control all the technologies in the home, including heating, lighting, CCTV and gate entry control as well as the 42” plasma. When a visitor buzzes the main entrance gates the CCTV camera image pops up on the screen, and the guest can be greeted using the two way intercom system on the panel.

Kitchen mood lighting
Included in the room is mood lighting control which adjusts the different lighting such as the spots in the ceiling, the LED lighting around the units, the dropped pendant lights and the fluorescent utility lighting depending on whether you are cooking, entertaining, or just watching TV.

Cinema ready to go...
The controls even features a special button called “prepare cinema room” that fires up the projector, amps, lights and air con in the main cinema room so it’s ready to use when you walk downstairs. When leaving the house a simple press on the “all off" button turns all the lights in the house off as well as all the TVs and speakers throughout the home, thus saving time and electricity.

Music in the garden
A pair of Bowers and Wilkins WM4 weatherproof speakers provide music outside quiet enough for when reading in the sun, and loud enough to turn up for parties and barbeques. A Sonos wireless controller allows you to browse through all the stored music on the central music server, from either lying back on the deckchair or even in the hot tub. The Sonos can also be linked through to the rest of the house when in party mode, so the same music plays as you move from inside to outside.

Whole house lighting control
Rako lighting control is installed throughout the property and provides the following benefits:

Environmental and cost saving benefits – a simple “all off switch” by the front door, as well as in the master bedroom allows all the lights to be turned off with one button press. This makes saving electricity easy, as no lights will be forgotten when going to bed, or leaving the house. Also running lights below 100% brightness using preset lighting “scenes” significantly increases lamp life and reduces electricity usage.

Security - The lighting system learns the day-to-day lighting usage. Then selecting 'holiday mode' before going away plays back this usage pattern over the following weeks giving the impression that people are still at home. The lights can also be triggered to switch on key rooms when someone buzzes the entrance gate, and then turn off after a period of time, again staging that someone is in the property. The lights are linked to the alarm system, so when the alarm is triggered all the lights in the house turn on and off, alerting passers by that there are possible intruders.

Convenience - Turning all the lights off with a single button when leaving the property saves time and hassle. In a four storey property of this size, this feature is particularly useful and also helps save on electricity bills.

Architectural – Many of the rooms feature “mood lighting”. This creates distinct lighting moods within each room by mixing different levels of varying light types, for example lamps, wall sconces, spots, feature lighting, or colour changing LEDs. Different moods can be easily selected using the simple lighting switches on the wall, with 4 different scenes as well as a master dimmer.

Exterior lighting
The main flood lighting that illuminates the front of the house are sodium uplighters. This lighting is activated by a timeclock, so it comes on automatically at dusk whatever the time of the year. This is a useful feature as it saves energy by not having the outside lights on in the summer when it's light and avoids the hassle of regularly needing to change the timer settings at different times of the year.

The lighting in the back garden is a mixture of LED feature downlighters and low heat spot uplighters. This create a ambient wash of light creating features of the planting and also the hot tub and stone work.

Security gate integration
When guests arrive at the electric gates, they buzz the intercom just like a standard gate entry system. But then the clever part – the CCTV feed of the exterior of the gates is then sent to all of the Crestron touchscreens around the home, as well as all the TVs.

Visitor CCTV alerts
If music is playing in the house it is muted to sound the gate buzzer. If TVs are being watched they automatically switch the gate CCTV camera so show that someone has arrived. Then using any of Crestron controllers it is possible to talk directly to the guest outside to greet them, and then to open the gate automatically allowing the entry. CCTV cameras are located on all corners of the property allowing the building to be monitored from all angle either within the home, or away form the home over the internet.

Greet visitors while away from home
Some other clever security features allow you to talk to the visitor even if you aren’t at home – it makes an audio and video connection direct to your mobile phone. This is very helpful for giving tradesmen or deliveries access when no-one is at home, and is a useful security feature for pretending you are at home to any questionable visitors.

From dark cellar to luxury cinema room
The basement cinema, originally a damp, dark cellar was converted in to a state of the art luxury cinema room. This room demonstrates the full potential of home cinema performance, giving an immersive audio visual experience, blended with cutting edge design. An 8 foot Screen Research projector screen hides all the front speakers and subwoofers, whereas the surround speakers are built into the walls and columns.

Sitting bright
Clever lighting design and dedicated cinema seating creates a very warm contemporary feel, with the room serving purposes as a TV room, gaming room, or full-on cinema room. The room features luxury Cinelounge seating, which is fully electric reclinable and comes in a variety of different leathers and colours.

Movies without interuptions
The TPMC-10 Crestron controller provides full control of the cinema, as well as displaying the CCTV cameras directly onto panel. Guests can also be buzzed into the home using the interface on the Crestron panel so you don’t even leave your seat during a film to let guests in. For more information and photos on the cinema see the case study.

Artcoustic lounge cinema
The lounge room is full of elaborate original features such as the intricate cornicing, lattice ceiling, marble fireplace and column statues. This created a design challenge as blending modern technology with original features is a fine balance. For this reason we hid all the audio visual equipment away in 3 Artcoustic Linux Duo cabinets, and chose black and white art prints to cover the front two Artcoustic DF100-75 speakers which, blending with the stone colours of the fireplace. Similarly the artwork on the Artcoustic DFS100-75 subwoofer next to the fireplace was a one off piece, commissioned by our resident artist Marcus Levine.

Kaleidescape and the DF Media servers
The Artcoustic speakers are powered by an Arcam P7 power amp and an a AV9 processor with a DV137 DVD player. The Kaleidescape interface on the 52” Loewe plasma allows you to browse through hundreds of different DVDs and CDs on screen, making playing movies and listening to music as simple as just sitting back and enjoying.

The DF Solutions music and movie server interface can also be accessed on the Loewe allowing us to demonstrate the differences between the DF server and the Kaleidescape. For more information and photos on this part of the project see the Artcoustic Lounge case study.

Lounge Crestron control
The Crestron Touchscreen controller in the lounge provides simple control over all the audio visual and environmental systems in the lounge, and also throughout the home. This makes using the system very simple, whether it’s watching Sky, browsing movies on the on screen TV interface or checking the CCTV cameras.

When the plasma screen is off the Crestron controller can also be used to browse through music using the Crestron interface, much like an ipod on a big touch screen. CCTV camera images are also streamed directly onto the Crestron panel allowing you to monitor the CCTV cameras at the same time as watching TV, and also allowing you to greet any guests when they arrive at the electric security gates.

From dining room…
This room serves two very different proposes, with different technologies to suit. When in use as a dining room, the in-wall Crestron TPS4L Touchscreen controller allows browsing all of the music from the central music server. This plays through a pair of high quality beautifully styled B&W XT4 speakers, finished in high gloss black which complements the décor of the room. The in-wall controller can also be used to adjust the lights in the room, monitor the CCTV cameras as well as buzz guests when they arrive at the front gates.

To board room...
Then with the touch of a button on the in-wall controller, the room as if by magic transforms into a professional board room. The lights dim, blinds drop and a 7 foot Beamax Dellegno projector screen rises out of a stunning piece of furniture located at the end of the room.

A special short throw projector is hidden underneath the end of the dining room table allows a laptop to be connected for presentations, or alternatively all the rest of the video sources from the rest of the house such as Sky HD, the DF movie server and CCTV images can also be viewed on the screen. This allows the room to double as a home office for video conferencing or company board meetings.

Whole house high definition
The high definition video distribution is taken care of by a Smart-e HD system, having centralised distribution of several Sky HD boxes, CCTV, two DF Solutions movie/ music servers and a Kaleidescape movie/ music server. These allow music and movies to be browsed on any TV throughout the property. The televisions around the house are either Samsung, Loewe or Aquavision, with a Runco projector in the dedicated basement cinema, and an In Focus projector in the discreet cinema. The audio from the Smart-e is fed into Rotel and Marantz stereo amps.

The hidden cinema room
This is a completely concealed cinema, where all of the equipment is hidden out of view when not in use. There is both a Loewe TV which automatically recesses back into the wall and is then covered by a panel mechanism that fills the hole where the TV was, and an Infocus projector on a dropdown lift mechanism, projecting onto an electric screen. In this discreet cinema there is also a special motorised Kef speaker system that comes out of the ceiling when in use, and retracts back into the ceiling when not.

This room demonstrates the concept that even good quality AV equipment does not need to be visible when not in use, and allows customers to visualise a room in terms of its design only, not worrying about what the technology will look like. For more information and photos on this part of the project see the Hidden Cinema case study.

The Linn hi-fi room
Within the house is a room dedicated to the sole purpose of high quality music. Linn has been at the forefront of music reproduction technology for 30 years. Our fully Aktiv Linn music system demonstrates the difference high quality makes to the enjoyment of music. On demonstration are is the very latest Linn Magik DS high-end music streamer, Magik integrated amp, 6100 amplifier and a Magik 140 floorstanding speakers.

Master bedroom picture lift
In the master bedroom, there is a picture lift, where, at the touch of a button on the touch screen remote, a piece of artwork automatically raises a picture to reveal a recessed television. The master bedroom also uses special Amina in-wall speakers that are plastered over, making them completely invisible. Both the Samsung TV and the in-wall speakers are built into a false chimney breast.

Music in the ensuite
The ensuite bathroom has an in-line volume control replicating whatever audio is being played in the master bedroom, great for listening to the news in the morning when it’s being watched on the TV, or when listening to music.

Popup TV at the foot of the bed
The second bedroom a TV lift is built into the foot of the bed, revealed with a motorised mechanism. This bed is sold as a complete package with the 26” Samsung LCD TV already built into it, therefore not requiring any special design considerations. Pressing the “ON” button on the simple Universal Remotes MX900 remote, the TV automatically pops up and the TV switches straight to Sky HD.

The TV can also display all the other sources from the main equipment rack. Linn in-wall speakers are built into the walls providing excellent quality audio in the room. The bedroom also has an ensuite with a separate Linn keypad built into the wall so different music can enjoyed in the ensuite bathroom.

Sky in the shower, Kylie in the bath
A 19” Aquavision mirror TV built into the black slate tiles can be enjoyed from the bath tub or the wetroom shower in the centre of the room. The TV can play another of the shared video sources like the TVs in the rest of the house including access to the CDs and DVDs on the DF media server, Sky HD, or CCTV. There is also a waterproof remote that floats in the bath.

When not in use the TV appears as an attractive mirror feature. An in-wall Crestron APAD controller that provides control of all the audio, video, lighting and heating in the room. This iPod style interface provides is a cost effective control solution including browsing of albums on artists using a scroll wheel.

The final verdict
Nowhere else in Britain is it possible in one place to experience so much of what our industry can offer. Our clients can see first hand not only the benefit of high performance equipment, but just as importantly they can see that this experience is not exclusive to the listening room or cinema.

Clients can see how this technology can seamlessly integrate into otherwise beautiful interiors, and allows them to create the environment they want, with the perfect combination of elements to suit their tastes.

The project itself
The house was built in 1890, and provided a blank canvas for Finite Solutions to create the ideal Showhouse. Not only does it prove that cutting edge technology can be integrated within a very old property, it also demonstrates how modern technology can be balanced with classical design.

The project took 12 months in total from gaining possession of the property through to completion with the company Directors working every weekend on the house during the course of the project with many staff members also dedicating time at the weekends. Not only did we all produce something that we are extremely proud of, it also created a huge bond within the team. with a total investment close to £1m.