Smart Home in Henley-on-Thames: A Whole-Home Control4 Case Study
A 150-circuit Rako lighting installation, 18-zone Bowers & Wilkins audio, a Dolby Atmos 7.2.2 home cinema and full security integration — designed with interior designer Spinocchia Freund for a contemporary countryside property in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.
Published August 2023 · Updated May 2026 · 6 min read
Lighting and shading across 150 Rako circuits
The lighting design is the system this property is built around. Modal AV extended the existing Rako wired control system with additional wireless products, taking the installation to over 150 lighting circuits controlled from 38 custom-engraved wall keypads in finishes specified by Spinocchia Freund. Scenes for every room — morning, evening, entertaining, away — are stored centrally and recalled instantly from keypads, Control4 touch screens or the iOS and Android apps. The same Rako platform drives motorised blinds, curtains and Velux roof windows throughout the property, so daylight, privacy and shading respond automatically to time of day and occupancy. As Rako lighting installers working at this scale, our role was as much about the cable design, panel layout and commissioning logic as about the visible keypads.
A Dolby Atmos 7.2.2 home cinema, calibrated to ISF standard
The dedicated cinema room is the project's showpiece. Triad in-wall Gold Reference speakers deliver a Dolby Atmos 7.2.2 configuration designed to rival the finest commercial cinemas, with the front three channels integrated invisibly into the joinery and trimmed in a 70s retro Tannoy-style speaker cloth — a request from the homeowner that gives the room its character. Atmos decoding is handled by an Anthem AVM processor, with ARC room correction fine-tuning the response to the room itself. Reference-level performance comes from the Anthem MCA amplification series. A Sony 4K laser projector throws a vibrant, accurately-coloured image onto a 3.5m-wide 2.40:1 screen that drops from a custom-built pelmet. As home cinema installers, we calibrate every projector we install to ISF standard — colour, gamma, contrast and brightness — so the image is technically correct on day one and stays correct as the projector ages. A local Apple TV gives the family fast access to streaming services, with everything else fed from the centralised video matrix.
Eighteen zones of multi-room audio
The homeowner's passion for high-quality audio runs through the whole house. Eighteen zones of multi-room audio can stream multiple sources simultaneously to every room, feeding top-of-the-range 8-inch Bowers & Wilkins in-ceiling speakers powered by Anthem amplification. Volume, source and zone selection are available from any Control4 interface, and the same audio platform integrates with the cinema room and the outdoor zones — so a single piece of music can follow the family from kitchen to garden to media room without interruption.
Climate, security and the managed network underneath
Four further subsystems sit underneath the visible automation. Climate is controlled across 45 heating zones for room-by-room comfort. Security includes a video intercom at the gate plus 17 CCTV cameras monitored 24/7, integrated with a custom PA-based intruder alerting system. A 4K HDR video matrix from HDAnywhere distributes Apple TV, Sky Q and other sources to seven Sony 4K HDR televisions and the cinema projector across eight zones. Beneath everything sits a managed wired network with enterprise Wi-Fi from Ubiquiti — the foundation every smart device in the property depends on. The network is the same architecture we deploy across every whole-home installation and is detailed on our Henley home network page.
Working with Spinocchia Freund
Like every project where we work alongside an interior designer, our job on this installation was to disappear into the design. We worked directly with Spinocchia Freund from the earliest planning stage — agreeing keypad finishes and engraving, speaker grille colours, touch screen locations, cable routes and the placement of every visible element so it sat with the interior scheme rather than against it. For architects, interior designers and specifiers working on properties in Henley-on-Thames and across the Thames Valley, this is how Modal AV typically integrates: reporting into the lead design team, taking ownership of the technology specification, and protecting the design intent on site.
Smart home installations in Henley-on-Thames and the surrounding area
This project is one of several whole-home installations Modal AV have delivered in Henley-on-Thames and the surrounding Thames Valley. From our Maidenhead base we regularly work in the villages around Henley itself — Remenham, Wargrave, Shiplake, Sonning, Hambleden and Mill End — and in the wider catchment of Marlow, Reading, Pangbourne, Wallingford, Beaconsfield, Cookham and Goring. As Control4 installers in Henley-on-Thames, Rako lighting installers, and home cinema installers working at the upper end of the residential market, the pattern of work is consistent: large contemporary or period properties, close collaboration with the design team, and a single integrated system underneath. If you are planning a project in Henley or the surrounding area, our home network page covers the structured cabling and Wi-Fi side in detail, and our contact page is the right place to start a conversation.
Frequently asked questions
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Tell us about the property and we'll come back with a sense of scale, timeline and budget — no obligation, just a conversation about what's possible.
Architect or interior designer?
We work behind the scenes with the design team on projects across Henley-on-Thames and the Thames Valley. Get in touch and we'll send a portfolio overview.
The Brief
Modal AV were introduced to this contemporary countryside home in Henley-on-Thames once the developer had laid the infrastructure for a future-proofed smart home. The new owners — experienced smart home users whose previous system had aged out of date — wanted to inherit what was already in place and substantially build onto it. The brief was unambiguous: a single, coherent home automation platform, world-class audio throughout, a dedicated cinema room, and technology that disappeared into the architecture. Modal AV worked closely alongside interior designer Spinocchia Freund from the first site survey through to final commissioning.
Our Solution
Modal AV designed and installed a comprehensive whole-home automation system built around a Control4 core platform. The Control4 system became the single brain for every other subsystem in the house — lighting, audio, video, cinema, motorised shading, climate, security and the underlying network — so the homeowner can reach any function from any touch screen, keypad or phone, in any room. The work was phased to align with the wider build programme and delivered without interrupting the design team's schedule.Modal AV designed and installed a comprehensive whole-home automation system built around a Control4 core platform. The Control4 system became the single brain for every other subsystem in the house — lighting, audio, video, cinema, motorised shading, climate, security and the underlying network — so the homeowner can reach any function from any touch screen, keypad or phone, in any room. The work was phased to align with the wider build programme and delivered without interrupting the design team's schedule.
Products Used
The Result
Three years on, the system runs daily without intervention. A single tap on the bedside keypad raises the blinds, brings the bathroom lights up gently, starts the morning playlist in the kitchen and adjusts the heating. Evenings, the cinema room is ready in seconds — projector calibrated, Atmos engaged, lighting dimmed to a stored scene. The Control4 app handles things when the family is away from the property; at home, the keypads do the work. Three years in, the technology has not aged — because Modal AV maintain it under the SMARTmaintenance programme. Proactive remote monitoring catches firmware drift before it causes a problem, and the family has a single point of contact whenever something needs adjusting.
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