Providing the Toys for Tech Execs’ Inner Boys

A healthy economy and a strong dose of Wall Street wealth has the country’s top technology executives scrambling to shop. New cars. New planes. And very expensive new houses filled with all the digital toys.

Newly minted billionaires are rushing to be like Bill Gates, whose 445,000-square-foot, $70-million monster home on the shore of Lake Washington has become the talk of the tech world. Monitors fill video walls, and digital screens display virtual artwork inside wooden frames.

Shopping for Bill-like baubles, today’s nouveau riche are flocking to companies like AudioVisions Inc. in Irvine to transform their pad into a “Jetsons” palace.

Phones ring constantly at the small company, which specializes in installing customized multimedia systems and networking technology in homes and corporate boardrooms. They specialize in large gigs--”usually, $20,000 is the starting point,” says Mark Hoffenberg, the company’s chief executive.

His 50-person business doesn’t have to advertise “because we have more work than we can handle,” says Hoffenberg, who relies on word of mouth for new contacts.

“If there’s someone who’s working in technology [in Southern California], and their company has gone public, then we’re working with them,” Hoffenberg said. “They tell their friends, who tell their friends, and so on.”

So far, the list includes Broadcom Corp.’s founders, Chief Executive Henry T. Nicholas III and Chief Technical Officer Henry Samueli.

Nicholas’ Laguna Hills mansion, a 15,000-square-foot home with an expansive view of Orange County, houses more than $1 million worth of computers and more than 27 miles of high-speed cable.

The estate has an impressive number of perks, digital and otherwise. There are the waterfalls, the elaborate movie theater and the secret passageway that leads to a private sports bar. There are the small wall panels that control the lighting, security and audio systems. The digital music machines--a stack of computers in a closet--blast tunes through dozens of speakers hidden throughout the grounds.

When the family flips on rock act Gravity Kills’ debut record--a favorite of Nicholas’--you can hear the lead singer shrieking about societal ills from the roof, in the shower or while swimming underwater in the pool.

“If it’s digital, it’s in there,” says Hoffenberg. Comparing the Nicholas estate to the legendary Winchester Mystery House in San Jose.

Also on the AudioVisions clientele list is Buy.com Inc. founder Scott A. Blum, who has a 6,800-square-foot Dana Point home.

Among the features: sensor-activated lights and doors, a digital art gallery and a security system that allows him to check in on his castle via the Internet. He’s also got the full array of entertainment toys.

All this convenience and automation sounds great, right? Perhaps.

While Blum says he enjoys “the cutting-edge image” the house conveys to guests, he says he prefers spending time in the other, simpler homes he owns in Orange County.

“I feel like I have to be a showcase for the latest [technology]” when entertaining guests, Blum said. “But I don’t know how to work half the [expletive].”

Times staff writer Robin Fields contributed to this report.