This old thatched barn was undergoing a massive internal and external restoration to make it a new family home.  The central living space was being completely refurbished to provide a huge room for the family to relax in, with glass walls on the two long sides and high vaulted ceilings.

 

Beyond the Invisible were called in to provide a discreet audiovisual entertainment system throughout the property. Most of the rooms were designed for the entertainment system to be part of the background, with speakers mounted in the ceiling and control of the system from the wall.  The challenge came when Beyond The Invisible were asked to install an entertainment system into the 15m x 5m living space without changing the aesthetic of the room.

 

To make the design even trickier, there was a requirement for the room to have two separate entertainment systems blended together.  While relaxing with friends, the client wanted a high quality audio system to allow access to their extensive CD collection.  At other times, they wanted to be able to relax in front of a plasma screen with surround sound while watching the latest movie.

 

Beyond the Invisible installed two separate speaker systems into the living space.  A high quality stereo system based around Speakercraft's top of the line AIM 8 Five in-ceiling speakers provided the audio for relaxing with friends, while an Atlantic Technology THX approved in-wall speaker system provided the surround sound movie experience.  Yamaha's remarkable RXV-4600 allows effortless switching between the two speaker systems.  If the client selects music the system automatically selects the music speakers, whilst if they select a movie source it selects the other speakers.

Additionally, a plasma screen was installed in a cloth-covered chest to provide the pictures to go with the movie.  The complete system is automatically controlled from a colour touch screen remote control which is designed to make the system delightfully simple to use.

To make listening to music around the house easier, a hard disk music server was installed.  Now, wherever the client is around the property they are able to call up any of their CDs with a few touches on the remote in the room.

In the bedroom and kitchen a small 7" LCD screen was mounted in the wall, this allows the client to chose their music from the central server or view their security cameras.

Lighting control in the Living Room uses a Lutron GrafikEye system.  This is perfect for a one room installation allowing the selection of four different scenes.  By specifying the American style button pads we could incorporate the GrafikEye panel with the controls for the audio-visual system to eliminate wall-acne.