The garage in Alpine was built along with the house in early 2007 and includes a $175,000 audio/video system that might make a Lamborghini jealous. Karlis installed eight ProVideo CVC-185DC B/W Dome cameras with infrared illuminators that cover the space from all angles and tie into the home's main security system. The video feed is accessible from any display in the home, including the Sony KDL-32S3000 LCD TV mounted in the garage, near the entrance from the house. Everything the cameras see goes to a Nuvico 16-channel digital video recorder.

For audio, Karlis positioned six Sonance Symphony 625TR in-ceiling speakers to minimize sonic reflections from the walls (and aided by a little equalization to avoid acoustical treatments that might interfere with the interior design). Backed by a 12-channel Sonance Sonamp 1230 amplifier, the garage system can play audio from the home's Crestron Adagio music server, digital radio, or from cable music channels. Controlling any of the systems, from the A/V to the car turntable, is a snap using the garage's Crestron TPS-2000L in-wall touchpanel.

The technologically sophisticated garage is Karlis' magnum opus. The central challenge, he says, was the absence of the usual positioning cues of an installation such as a home theater.

“It was new construction, which helped with the wiring,” he recalls. “But we wondered, for example, where we should place the LCD.” The solution to that problem was intuitive, he said, when he realized that the only space that would not be occupied by cars was near the entrance to the house. Today the homeowner can easily keep an eye on Bloomberg market reports while tinkering with his cars.

Drive-In Theater

Not every digital garage holds a veritable parking lot's worth of luxury cars, however. In Louisville, Ky., Tony Rossini, owner of Digital Lifestyles, a local integrator, turned the three-car garage of a $1 million home into an A/V marvel. Anchored by a 61-inch Runco CW-61 plasma display, the Louisville garage could be mistaken for a home theater.

“This is the place in the house where the homeowner goes to smoke his cigars, tinker with the cars, and hang out with his friends,” says Rossini. “Not the den, not the home theater, not the great room—the garage.”

Rossini integrated six B&W CCM80 two-way, in-ceiling speakers, a B&W ASW650 sub-woofer, and a Rotel RKB-650 six-channel amplifier. On the back end there's a Kaleidescape DVD server, and, as in the Alpine home, everything is controlled through a Crestron TPS 2000L in-wall touchpanel.

The installation was done two years ago when the house was nearing completion, making the system's integration relatively straightforward. Rossini simply let the contractor know where he needed extra power outlets to accommodate the A/V electronics. But the project woke Rossini to the potential of a largely untapped market.

“The garage has become an extension of the home itself,” he says. “This client even has his housekeeper put [the garage] on her cleaning route along with the rest of the house.”