Your clients want the streaming remote in their hand, nothing on show, and sound that stops them mid sentence. This guide shows you how to deliver all three: nine worked system builds across Hyperion home cinema separates, Hyperion AXIS eARC to Dante encoders, and the Bijou compact amplifier series.
Hyperion APR-16 · 16-channel reference processor
Hyperion · Hyperion AXIS · Bijou
habitech.co.uk · +44 (0)1256 638500
In association with
01 · The thinking
A new way to design a system.
The default design for any room with a TV has been the same for twenty years: an AVR in the rack, sources alongside it, video and audio hauled back to the room. It works, but it always costs the client something. The remote they love. The joinery that fills with heat. The rooms that never justified a rack and made do with a soundbar instead. AXIS and Bijou invert the design. The TV becomes the HDMI switcher, and the AudioControl unit simply follows whatever the TV is doing. That one shift unlocks new opportunities in media rooms, cinema rooms and the spaces most projects leave behind: garages, gyms, basements, guest bedrooms and dens.
The big idea
The TV is now the switcher.
Sources into the TV
Every modern TV is already an excellent HDMI switcher with apps on board. eARC hands the full audio stream to AXIS or Bijou.
The remote they know
CEC gives the TV remote control of volume. Apps, voice and switching feel exactly as the client expects.
One cable, less labour
One Cat 6A or a short HDMI lead replaces a loom of baluns and interconnects: faster commissioning, cheaper wiring.
No unjustified racks
No video runs back to the rack, so rooms that never earned one suddenly do proper audio.
The full thinking
Every modern TV is already an excellent HDMI switcher with a polished UI, a full app platform and a voice remote the client loves. Sources plug into the TV; eARC hands the full audio stream to AXIS or Bijou; CEC gives the TV remote control of volume. No HDMI matrix, no AVR input switching, no video runs back to the rack. One Cat 6A or one short HDMI lead replaces a loom of baluns and interconnects: a real saving on wiring and labour, faster commissioning, and rooms that never justified proper audio before suddenly do.
Cable new networks in SCP Cat 6A U/UTP as a minimum; for retrofit, existing Cat 6 can be reused. A Dante compatible switch such as the RIVI Networks ICX7150 carries PoE and audio on the same run.
PRINCIPLE 01
Follow the TV, keep the source in the room
Clients want the streaming remote in hand: voice search, app switching, instant response. With sources in the TV and AXIS or Bijou following the eARC feed, they get exactly that, with CI-grade audio behind it.
PRINCIPLE 02
Keep the heat in the plant room
Amplification generates heat; joinery and media walls hate heat. AXIS devices draw around 2 to 6 watts over PoE at the display, while GaN amplification sits in HVAC controlled rack space where it belongs.
PRINCIPLE 03
Match the platform to the room
Not every room can hide a rack. Bijou puts GaN amplification, DSP and automatic input switching in a half rack chassis built for in-room use: Noctua cooling keeps it near silent, even behind the TV of a quiet bedroom.
How to read this guide. Nine worked system builds follow, each with a wiring schematic, signal flow and a kit list with SRPs. They are starting points, not prescriptions: every platform here is designed to scale up or down with channel count, speaker package and budget. You bring the room and the client; Habitech brings the schematic, the kit list and the support behind it. Your BDM and the technical team can help you spec any variant.
eARC, S/PDIF and analogue inputs, GaN output stage
Signal sense, priority input, VESA mount option
Noctua cooling: near silent, built for in-room use
Speaker pairings from the Habitech portfolio
Bijou rooms: M&K Sound D85 and D95 on-wall monitors, and James SPL series passive soundbars: built to custom widths to match the TV, finished in 16 standard colours or any RAL, laser printed to replicate any texture in the space, and now fitted with the Sonance designed Quadratech tweeter. Hyperion and AXIS systems: M&K Sound IW150, IW300 and IW500 series in-wall and in-ceiling, Wisdom Audio Insight series (P series on-walls, P7M / P9M soundbars, S10 subwoofers) and above, plus James custom solutions throughout.
All prices SRP ex VAT, June 2026. GaN: gallium nitride output devices replace silicon MOSFETs across Bijou and Hyperion for faster switching, lower distortion, higher efficiency and far less heat. Trade pricing on your Habitech account.
In association with
Use case 01 · Bijou
Stereo and LCR TV rooms, no rack at all.
07
The brief: a guest bedroom and a snug. No rack space, no control system budget, but the client still expects the TV to sound excellent and switch itself on and off without thinking about it. The result: the TV wakes, the room sounds excellent, and nobody ever asks where the amplifier is.
Why design it this way
Bijou 2100 drives a stereo pair either side of the TV at 100W into 8 ohms, M&K Sound D85 or D95 on-walls are the natural partner; Bijou 3100 adds a dedicated centre channel for a passive James SPL series LCR soundbar.
Automatic behaviour is built in: eARC always wins, signal sense wakes the unit from standby, and a priority input takes over while it is on. No control system needed.
The TV remote handles volume over CEC. DSP includes crossover, time alignment, level matching and a 6 band EQ per unit.
Half rack, 1U, VESA and back box mounting with near silent Noctua cooling: it disappears behind the TV or into joinery and the client never hears it. Drivers for RTI, Control4, Crestron, Elan and URC if a control system arrives later.
No sub cable in the wall? Take the Bijou sub out into a Sonance wireless transmitter kit (SON-93451, £281.51) with a UA 2-125 amplifier (£1,093.40) at the far end: any passive subwoofer becomes active, anywhere in the room.
In association with
Use case 02 · Bijou
Compact 5.1 behind the TV.
08
The brief: a basement media den. The client wants real surround sound, the room has no rack, and one day they would like it linked to the rest of the house audio. The result: true 5.1 from a unit hidden behind the display, ready to join the whole house system when the time comes.
Why design it this way
Bijou 5100D decodes Dolby Atmos and DTS streams to a true 5.1 layout, with five GaN amplified channels at 65W into 8 ohms plus a sub output.
It mounts behind the TV on the VESA bracket or takes half a rack unit in joinery, with an OLED front panel showing status at a glance.
Dante 2 in / 2 out ties the room into the wider house: send the den's audio to other zones, or play any house source locally. Note the Dante stream follows the amplified output and is unavailable when the unit is off.
Priority inputs and signal sensing handle the day to day automatically; analogue and S/PDIF inputs cover a turntable or legacy kit.
Need more than 5.1? The pre-outs are assignable, so a second Bijou takes the room to 7.1 or 5.1.2: see use case 03.
No sub cable? Bijou sub out into a Sonance wireless transmitter kit (SON-93451) with a UA 2-125 at the far end makes any passive subwoofer active. Full Bijou switching logic and a live simulator: habitech.co.uk/audiocontrol-bijou-whitepaper
In association with
Use case 03 · Bijou
Stack two Bijous: 5.1.2 or 7.1, still no rack.
09
The brief: the client wants immersive audio in a media room that has nowhere to hide electronics. Two compact chassis behind the TV deliver seven amplified channels plus a sub, from a single eARC feed. The result: seven channels of immersive audio with nothing visible in the room but the TV.
Why design it this way
The 5100D decodes the Dolby Atmos or DTS bitstream and amplifies the 5.1 bed; its assignable RCA pre-outs hand the extra pair to a Bijou 2100.
Assign the pair as Atmos heights for 5.1.2, or as rear surrounds for 7.1. The 2100 simply amplifies what it is given, at 100W into 8 ohms.
Both units are half rack width, VESA mountable and near silent thanks to Noctua cooling, so the whole system hides behind the display or in a shallow joinery void.
At the screen, a James SPL soundbar is built to the exact width of the TV, finished in 16 standard colours or any RAL, laser printed to match any texture, with the Sonance designed Quadratech tweeter. A truly cinematic front stage with nothing visible but the TV.
A clever step up nobody else in the category offers: immersive audio with zero rack space. Sub run awkward? The Sonance wireless transmitter kit plus a UA 2-125 makes any passive subwoofer active.
In association with
Use case 04 · Hyperion AXIS
The family room that punches above its weight.
05
The brief: a family or games room running everything from the TV: native apps and a console. The client wants proper surround sound but there is no space, and no desire, for any visible electronics. The result: cinema scale surround in a room where nothing is on show but the TV and the sofa.
Why design it this way
AXIS-10 decodes up to 8 channels of Dolby Atmos or DTS-HD from eARC and puts them straight onto Dante, with a stereo downmix available at the same time.
One Hyperion HEPTA in the plant room powers the whole 5.1.2 layout: seven Dante channels at 230W each, in matching Hyperion livery.
Web GUI on the AXIS handles configuration and calibration; latency is configurable at 1, 2 or 5ms.
The stereo downmix doubles as the whole-house feed: the kids' film audio can follow them to the kitchen ceiling speakers.
Kit list
Item
Role
SRP ex VAT
ACT-ACP-AXIS-10
eARC to Dante, 8ch + downmix
£764.71
ACT-HYPERION-HEPTA-7CH
7 x 230W Dante amplifier
£3,531.94
ACT-DANTE-D-POE
Dante to powered sub
£283.02
RIV-ICX7150-C12P
PoE switch, Dante ready
£1,031.11
M&K IW150 / James x7
5.1.2 package
To spec
Electronics from
£5,610
In association with
Use case 05 · Hyperion AXIS
TV audio in every room you used to walk past.
06
The brief: the gym, the garage, the golf simulator, the terrace TV. Rooms where a soundbar looks wrong and an AVR is absurd, but the client still expects the TV to sound like part of the system. The result: rooms the project would once have walked past now carry the house system, with nothing on the wall but the TV.
Why design it this way
AXIS-2 turns any eARC TV into a Dante source for around £365 a zone: stereo PCM onto the network from a device that draws roughly 2 watts.
The TV remote controls volume over CEC, so there is nothing new for the client to learn and nothing extra on the wall.
Amplification is shared and central: one Hyperion TETRA covers two stereo zones at 230W per channel, with Dante straight in.
Each zone needs exactly one Cat 6A (or reused Cat 6). Add zones whenever the project grows, and route any TV's audio anywhere on the Dante network.
Kit list (per pair of zones)
Item
Role
SRP ex VAT
ACT-ACP-AXIS-2 x2
eARC to Dante stereo
£729.58
ACT-HYPERION-TETRA-4CH
Shared, powers 2 zones
£2,493.13
RIV-ICX7150-C12P
PoE switch, Dante ready
£1,031.11
Sonance / M&K in-ceiling pairs
Per zone
To spec
Electronics from
£4,253
Larger zone counts scale with additional TETRA, PENTA or HEPTA amplifiers on the same Dante network.
In association with
Use case 06 · Hyperion AXIS · The headline act
The media room with the source in the room.
04
The brief: the client insists on using the streaming player's own remote, voice search included. Normally that kills the centralised design, because the source has to live in the plant room with the processor. AXIS removes the conflict entirely. The result: the client keeps the remote, the voice search and the apps they love, and never needs to know the system is anything more than the TV.
Why design it this way
Sources plug into the TV's own HDMI inputs, so the remote, voice assistant and app experience work exactly as the client expects.
AXIS-16 extracts the full eARC bitstream and decodes Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD up to 16 channels: 9.1.6, or 9.1.4 with a simultaneous stereo downmix for the wider house.
EQ, crossover, delay and level are applied before the signal hits the Dante network, then one Cat 6A carries everything to the amp rack: no HDMI matrix, no video runs, a serious saving on wiring and labour.
The only kit at the display draws about 6 watts over PoE. Every hot, serviceable component stays in the HVAC controlled plant room.
Kit list
Item
Role
SRP ex VAT
ACT-ACP-AXIS-16
eARC to Dante, 16ch
£1,190.02
ACT-HYPERION-HEPTA-7CH
Bed layer, Dante
£3,531.94
ACT-HYPERION-TETRA-4CH
Heights, Dante
£2,493.13
ACT-DANTE-D-POE
Dante to powered subs
£283.02
RIV-ICX7150-C12P
PoE switch, Dante ready
£1,031.11
M&K IW300 / IW150 or James
In-wall / in-ceiling
To spec
Electronics from
£8,529
In association with
Use case 07 · Hyperion Home Cinema · Coming 2026
The media room, one box, no compromise.
03
The brief: a high-end media room where a mainstream AVR would normally go. The client wants immersive audio and a single elegant chassis, and you want CI features a consumer receiver will never give you. The result: one elegant chassis, eleven GaN amplified channels, and a clear upgrade path when the room steps up.
Why design it this way
RCV-11 is the first AVR of its kind with GaN amplification: 11 amplified channels at 100W into 8 ohms, 200W into 4 ohms, all channels driven.
16 channels of processing on board, so 7.1.4 is amplified out of the box and spare decode channels can feed subs or other zones via outputs and Dante.
Same 48Gbps HDMI 2.1 platform, Dirac support and 7 inch front touchscreen as the rest of the Hyperion family.
Where the room steps up later, the RCV-11 becomes the processor and Hyperion amps take over the heavy lifting.
Kit list
Item
Role
SRP ex VAT
ACT-HYPERION-RCV-11
11ch GaN AVR
TBC, due 2026
James SPL series soundbar
LCR at the screen
To spec
James in-ceiling x4
Heights
To spec
Powered subwoofers
4 independent sub outs
To spec
Register interest
Via Habitech
RCV-11 completes the Hyperion range later this year. Speak to your BDM about launch stock allocation.
In association with
Use case 08 · Hyperion Home Cinema
The one-cable digital cinema.
02
The brief: the AV rack has to live near the screen, but there is no appetite for 16 analogue interconnects to the amp rack, and the only infrastructure between spaces is Cat 6. The result: a full immersive cinema carried by a single network cable, with audio kept digital from decode to amplifier input.
Why design it this way
DPR-16 is a fully digital 1U platform: 16 channels leave the processor over Ethernet as Dante/AES67, with AES/EBU also available on RJ45.
One Cat 6A run (or reused Cat 6 in retrofit) replaces a 16-way analogue loom. Audio stays digital from decode to the amplifier input stage.
Hyperion TETRA, PENTA and HEPTA take Dante natively, so the amp rack sits wherever power and cooling are best.
AES67 opens the door to active speaker systems, and the platform supports eARC, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X with the same 48Gbps HDMI board as the APR-16.
Kit list
Item
Role
SRP ex VAT
ACT-HYPERION-DPR-16
1U digital 16ch processor
TBC
ACT-HYPERION-HEPTA-7CH
Bed layer, Dante in
£3,531.94
ACT-HYPERION-TETRA-4CH
Heights, Dante in
£2,493.13
RIV-ICX7150-C12P
PoE switch, Dante ready
£1,031.11
DPR-16 pricing and ETA
Via Habitech
Designed to partner AES67 and AES/EBU speaker brands as well as the Hyperion amplifier family.
In association with
Use case 09 · Hyperion Home Cinema
The reference cinema, on separates.
01
The brief: a dedicated cinema room, 7.1.4 today with headroom for 9.1.6. The client expects reference performance and the room has a proper plant room three doors down. The result: reference performance from a silent room, every source one button away, and a rack the client never has to think about.
Why design it this way
APR-16 gives 16 assignable balanced outputs, Sabre ES9039Q DACs and THD+N below 0.0002%. Dirac Live with Active Room Treatment ready.
All seven sources live in the rack; one HDMI 2.1 run at 48Gbps feeds the projector at 4K 120Hz.
Four independent sub channels from the processor mean proper multi-sub bass management, not a mono LFE split.
GaN amplification runs cool and efficient in the rack, and the MCU console gives your programmer live API access for commissioning.
Kit list
Item
Role
SRP ex VAT
ACT-HYPERION-APR-16
16ch pre/processor
£6,139.40
ACT-HYPERION-HEPTA-7CH
Bed layer, 7 x 230W
£3,531.94
ACT-HYPERION-TETRA-4CH
Heights, 4 x 230W
£2,493.13
ACT-RS-1000
DSP subwoofer amplifier
£1,835.64
Speaker package
M&K IW500 / Wisdom / James
To spec
Electronics from
£14,000
Hyperion amps deliver 230W into 8 ohms, 300W into 4, and bridge to 600W mono for demanding centre or sub duties, with 12V or contact closure triggering. Launch bundles also exist: APR-16 with a Savoy 7ch amplifier at £9,646.27, or with Savoy plus Avalon for 11 amplified channels at £11,834.50.
If the client talks about the remote and voice search before they talk about speakers, start with AXIS.
If there is no rack and no appetite for one, start with Bijou. If there is a plant room, use it: PoE in the room, GaN amplification in the rack.
Hyperion, AXIS and Bijou all speak Dante, so any design here can grow into any other without abandoning kit.
Cabling: SCP Cat 6A U/UTP as the minimum for new networks; existing Cat 6 can be reused for retrofit. Specify a Dante compatible PoE switch such as the RIVI Networks ICX7150.
In association with
04 · Next steps
Bring us the room. We will do the rest.
Habitech is the UK home of AudioControl. Send over a floor plan and a brief, and the technical team will come back with a schematic and a kit list priced on your trade account. System design help, Dante network reviews, Dirac calibration guidance, demo stock and dealer training are all available through your BDM. More than a distributor, your home for every AV solution.
