In Milford on Sea, Hampshire, homeowners Simon and Amy Davies have spent almost a decade transforming a derelict mill into a distinctive family home. Three buildings, now connected by an elegant glass extension, combine their original architectural character with contemporary luxury living. To complete the renovation, the hi-fi enthusiasts installed a BluOS based multi-zone audio system using a combination of products from Bluesound and NAD Electronics, ensuring that each zone had exactly the right device to suit how it was used. This allowed them to overcome the property’s unusual layout while delivering high-quality music throughout all three historic buildings.
Watch a full interview with homeowners Simon and Amy Davies about the Old Mill project.
The property’s scale and construction created a demanding environment for whole-home audio. “A lot of the house is open plan, with large glass walls connecting the three buildings together,” Davies explains. Its complex layout, glass surfaces, and hard flooring meant the building did not naturally lend itself to high-quality sound.
A traditional, centrally-racked system would not be practical across the entire property. “Typically, an audio installation would have a central location where the equipment is housed in a rack,” Davies explains. “While we were able to achieve a scaled-down version of this in one section of the house, it would not work across the entire premises.” Instead, the system needed to distribute audio reliably across all three buildings using wired and wireless network connections. “Using the BluOS multi-room software platform as the backbone and products from both NAD and Bluesound, we were able to create a flexible system that could reach every part of the property without the complexities often associated with multizone systems.” 
At the centre of the installation is a combination of compact streaming amplifiers selected according to the requirements of each space. In the lounge, an NAD CI SA2-120 drives four loudspeakers across its dual outputs. These are configured as a fixed multi-player group, so the room appears as a single zone in the BluOS app. A second CI SA2-120 operates as a two-zone player for the kitchen and garden room. The outdoor kitchen space uses a POWERNODE EDGE streaming amplifier from Bluesound, with a Bluesound HUB capturing TV audio for playback through the BluOS system. Further POWERNODE EDGE amplifiers serve the bar and games room, where an NAD C 700 V2 drives Gallo Acoustics ceiling-mounted speakers installed in the bar. The kitchen has also been upgraded with a pair of Gallo Strada loudspeakers. PULSE SUB+ units add low-frequency extension in several spaces.
“The amplifiers are at the heart of the system,” continues Davies. “They’re compact and understated, without large displays or complicated controls. Everything is very simple and thoughtfully designed.” Rather than concealing these elements, the homeowners decided to embrace their appearance as part of the interior.”
“The BluOS app interface is the heart of the control ecosystem,” Davies states. “Once a system is installed, the interface is the bit you have to live with, so it makes sense that it simplifies what would otherwise be a very complex system.
Using the BluOS app, Simon and Amy can move music between rooms or group different spaces according to how the house is being used. Music can follow them as they move through the property, while individual zones remain available for anyone who wants to listen to something different elsewhere.
The Old mill, arguably the most important building on the site, has been transformed into a dedicated cinema featuring a projector, an acoustically transparent screen and a multichannel surround sound system using Gallo Acoustics loudspeakers. “It is acoustically treated by natural wood fibre insulation on the walls, covered with black felt, which allows the building to breathe,” says Davies. “The density and the fabric have created a perfect acoustic environment, making this particular space ideal for a cinema and hi fidelity music room setup.”
The system is driven by an NAD T 778 AV Surround Sound Receiver in a 7.2.2 Dolby Atmos configuration, delivering immersive movie sound while retaining access to the same BluOS music experience used throughout the rest of the house. “The NAD T 778 is an incredible piece of equipment because it has BluOS which enables it to be integrated into the rest of the multi-room system, as well as being a standalone cinema receiver,” adds Davies. “Another neat feature is Dirac Room Correction. While the room already has very good acoustics, I was able to use the Dirac to get further improvements. It was very simple to do using the supplied microphone and their app, everything just sounds cleaner and more balanced.”
The Snug provides a more relaxed space for watching television and films, so the audio solution needed to deliver greater impact without introducing a conventional wired speaker system. A Bluesound PULSE CINEMA soundbar was fixed to the television bracket, ensuring the audio remains aligned with the screen as it is repositioned. Combined with a PULSE SUB+, it adds deeper bass and Dolby Atmos playback while continuing to operate as part of the home’s wider BluOS network.
After an intensive eight-year renovation, Simon and Amy Davies can now enjoy music as they had always hoped. From radio in the morning to television, gaming and dedicated cinema listening, the system has become part of the couple’s everyday routine. “The system has helped the house finally come alive,” he says. “When we wake up in the morning, we like to have gentle music in the background. The beauty of the BluOS platform is that it comes with a number of free service providers that give you access to just about every radio station you could imagine and it can connect with almost all major music streaming platforms. We use those as the background to our morning.”
The completed installation reflects the same care that shaped the wider renovation – high-quality technology, thoughtfully integrated and simple to enjoy. Across three historic buildings and a growing collection of listening spaces, BluOS and NAD have provided Simon and Amy with a flexible whole-home audio system. “It’s not just a building anymore, but a home,” Davies concludes. “Audio brings the home to life.”
