Audio, video cables company's specialty

What: Bellevue-based TRU Company, marketing the Volo line of products

Who: Mitch Norton, 38, president

Mission: Markets high-quality audio and video cables and accessories.

Rewiring: High-definition systems move a tremendous amount of data between components, leading to establishment of the High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) format.

New HDMI products can be expensive, with a set of cables costing a few hundred dollars.

Norton maintains that an inexpensively produced product shouldn't cost so much.

Employees: 7

Financials: The privately funded, profitable company expects $3.5 million in revenue this year from its cable business.

Marginal thinking: Norton said audio and video hardware isn't a big moneymaker, so accessories such as cables are often priced with bigger margins.

Because Volo cables carry smaller margins than some retailers want, the products aren't sold in very many places, Norton said, adding that decreasing cable prices will result in higher volume and higher profits overall. Volo products are sold by some retailers and online.

Location, location: Even if the Volo cables are one-tenth the price of the "name" brands, consumers won't buy an audio or video system in a chain store and go somewhere else for the cables.

"We need to be at the point of sale," Norton said.

Weakest link: Cables can be an afterthought in an audio or video system, but Norton thinks they represent an important purchase.

"With high-definition systems you need to be able to move the data efficiently," he said. "When you have the right cables you will see and hear the difference."

— Charles Bermant