Englefield Green sits just outside Egham, on the Surrey side of Windsor Great Park — and this beautifully renovated family home is exactly the kind of project we love working on in the Home Counties. Open-plan kitchen and living space, stone-topped island, full-width glass doors onto a landscaped garden: the brief was simple. Music and television everywhere it should be, and no visible technology anywhere it shouldn’t.
One system, every room
At the heart of the house is a URC control system. A single, family-friendly remote and app run everything: the URC MRX-10 controller sits in a tidy equipment rack in the utility room, alongside a URC matrix amplifier that feeds independently controlled audio zones throughout the home. Any source, any room — the kitchen can have the radio on while the living area streams something else entirely.
The sources are centralised in the same rack: a Sonos Port for streaming, Apple TV, and the Virgin Media box distributed over an HDMI video distribution system, so every television in the house has access to everything without a single set-top box on show.
The open-plan heart of the home
The kitchen-living space is where this house really shows off. At the kitchen end, two pairs of architectural in-ceiling speakers disappear into the plasterwork and fill the space with even, room-wide sound. Down at the television end, a Marantz AV receiver drives a discreet 4.1 surround system — Origin Acoustics in-ceiling speakers paired with a Monitor Audio Silver subwoofer — so film nights get proper weight and detail with nothing on show but a compact subwoofer.
Each area is a separate zone within the URC system, so the family can run the whole space as one big room for a party, or as independent areas for an ordinary Tuesday.
Garden audio that earns its keep
The landscaped garden — paved patio, outdoor kitchen and timber-slatted boundaries — deserved better than a portable speaker. The original installation included a pair of Monitor Audio Climate 50 all-weather speakers; the system has just been extended with a second pair, giving even coverage across the patio, dining and seating areas without ever needing to be loud at any one point. That is the trick with garden audio: more speakers at lower volume sounds better for you and far better for the neighbours.
A network that covers the whole plot
None of it works without a rock-solid network. The house runs on a Luxul managed router with Ruckus Wi-Fi access points throughout the property — including dedicated outdoor coverage, so streaming by the outdoor kitchen is as solid as it is indoors.
A long-term relationship
Like most of our clients, this is a home we have looked after over years rather than weeks — extending and refining the system as the family’s use of the house evolves. Asked why he keeps coming back to us, the client put it like this:
“Dan’s very clear speaking, intellectually astute and gives a reasoned solution to all problems.”
Giles, Englefield Green
Project notes
| Role | Detail |
|---|---|
| Location | Englefield Green, Surrey (near Egham and Windsor) |
| Control | URC MRX-10 — single remote and app |
| Audio | URC multi-zone matrix amplifier; architectural in-ceiling speakers; Marantz 4.1 with Origin Acoustics in-ceilings and Monitor Audio Silver subwoofer |
| Garden | 2 × pairs Monitor Audio Climate 50 all-weather speakers |
| Video | HDMI distribution to all TVs; centralised Virgin Media, Apple TV, Sonos Port |
| Network | Luxul managed router; Ruckus Wi-Fi indoors and out |
Planning something similar in Surrey, Berkshire or anywhere in the Home Counties? We design and install multi-room audio, home cinema and smart home control across London and the Home Counties as well as our West Country heartland. Get in touch — or explore our multi-room AV and home automation services.
