When homeowners invest in a luxury custom home, they expect more than beautiful architecture and premium finishes. Technology must work just as seamlessly, enhancing daily living without adding complexity. For one recently built residence, achieving this balance meant creating an audio experience that could deliver exceptional sound throughout the home while integrating effortlessly with the broader smarter home environment.
The UK-based project was led by Smart Control Engineers, whose initial involvement focused on lighting and environmental controls. As construction progressed, the homeowners expanded the scope to include whole-home audio capable of supporting everyday listening, TV enhancement, entertaining, and dedicated home theater performance.
“The project evolved naturally,” explains Smart Control Engineers’ smart building control specialist Christopher Ettenfield. “Once the homeowners experienced what integrated technology could do throughout the house, they wanted the same level of simplicity and performance from their audio system.”
The completed residence spans three levels and includes a dedicated home theater, fitness room, vehicle showroom, and multiple open-concept living spaces. To meet the homeowners’ expectations for premium sound throughout the property, Ettenfield designed a six-zone audio system powered by NAD CI 720 V2 BluOS Network Stereo Zone Amplifier with BluOS built in.
The system serves the home’s kitchen, family room, living room, entertainment bar, primary suite, and primary bath, ensuring that music and audio content are available wherever the homeowners spend the most time.
A Flexible Foundation for Everyday Listening
At the heart of the installation is BluOS, the multi-room music platform that allows homeowners to stream and control audio throughout the property using an intuitive mobile app.
Each NAD CI 720 V2 combines BluOS streaming technology with efficient amplification in a compact rack-mounted form factor. For the homeowner, the result is simple control and excellent sound quality. For the integrator, it delivers a streamlined installation that is easy to deploy and maintain.
One of the project’s primary goals was ensuring that audio remained accessible and reliable regardless of how the broader smart home ecosystem was being used.
“The beauty of BluOS is that it can operate independently while still integrating with the rest of the technology stack,” says Ettenfield. “That flexibility gives homeowners confidence that their music system will always be available when they want it.”
The homeowners primarily use the system with streaming services including Spotify and TIDAL, as well as television and video content distributed throughout the house. Wall-mounted control interfaces provide quick volume adjustment in key living spaces, while the BluOS app enables complete control from anywhere in the home.
Creating a True Home Theater Experience
While distributed audio was a key component of the project, the dedicated home theater served as another major focus.
The theater is powered by an NAD T 778 AV Receiver driving a full Dolby Atmos surround sound system, creating a cinematic experience that rivals many commercial theaters.
According to Ettenfield, one of the receiver’s most valuable features during installation was its front panel touchscreen interface. “The touchscreen makes commissioning much easier,” he explains. “On larger projects, equipment can often be located far from the viewing space. Having that level of control directly at the rack saves significant installation time.”
The theater also benefits from Dirac Live room correction technology, which optimizes audio performance based on the room’s acoustics. “Dirac Live made a dramatic difference,” says Ettenfield. “After calibration, the room felt completely transformed. The bass performance improved, imaging became more precise, and the overall experience became significantly more immersive.”
The homeowners quickly noticed the impact. “The sound is fantastic,” they say. “It genuinely feels like being in a real movie theater.”
Leveraging Dante for Simplified Distribution
The project also represented Smart Control Engineers’ first deployment of Dante audio networking within a residential environment. Dante was used to route audio from televisions located throughout the property back to a centralized equipment rack. From there, signals were integrated into the BluOS ecosystem using Dante-to-optical conversion.
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Although the implementation required careful network configuration to address latency considerations during commissioning, the long-term benefits proved substantial. “We encountered some initial challenges, but once everything was properly configured, the advantages became obvious,” says Ettenfield. “The system is cleaner, easier to service, and far less dependent on large amounts of physical cabling.”
Reducing cable complexity was particularly important given the scale of the project and the desire to maintain an organized, service-friendly rack. “With Dante, we dramatically reduced the amount of wiring required. That makes future maintenance much easier and gives the homeowner a system that’s better prepared for future upgrades.”
Ease of Installation Meets Long-Term Reliability
Beyond the performance, one of the biggest takeaways from the project was the simplicity of deploying the BluOS ecosystem. “Setup was incredibly straightforward,” Ettenfield says. “As an integrator, it’s refreshing to work with a platform that delivers powerful functionality without creating unnecessary complexity.”
That simplicity ultimately benefits both the installer and the homeowner. The finished solution provides consistent, high-quality audio across the entire home while remaining easy to use on a daily basis.
Now that the two-year project is complete, the family enjoys audio throughout their home every day, whether they’re listening to music while preparing meals, enhancing TV audio in a living space, entertaining guests, or enjoying a movie night in the theater.
“We use it constantly,” says the homeowner. “The convenience is what stands out the most. We can listen to whatever we want, wherever we are in the house, and easily group rooms together when we’re entertaining. It has completely changed how we enjoy music and television.”
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By combining NAD amplification, BluOS multi-room streaming, and innovative audio distribution technologies, the project demonstrates how today’s luxury homes can deliver premium entertainment experiences without sacrificing simplicity, reliability, or ease of use.
Discover how NAD and BluOS can be part of your next project here.
About NAD Electronics
Founded in 1972 and now sold in over 80 countries, NAD Electronics is renowned for its award-winning line of high-quality components for audio, home theater, and custom installation applications. Since the beginning, NAD’s commitment to four core values — innovation, simplicity, performance, and value — have earned it a devoted following that catapulted it to becoming a household name among audiophiles and music lovers alike. To this day, the brand continues to design and manufacture some of the most acclaimed and affordable hi-fi components that include modern features and technologies meant to appeal to a new generation of audiophiles.
Visit nadelectronics.com for more information.
