Since there seems to be some continuing interest in the Running Springs Audio HZ Crown Jewel, I thought we'd weigh in with some definitive information.
It is true that we (CH Acoustics) designed and licensed this cable to RSA. In the early days, we built units for them. These can be identified by the connectors. The ones we built have a blue and black colored weave in the Carbon Fiber ends.
The ones RSA built have an all black carbon weave.
We built approximately a dozen units before we taught RSA our process. According to our records, RSA built 25 units in their factory.
So there are roughly 3 dozen HZ Crown Jewels out there.
And there won't be any more. When the parent company that owned RSA changed, the new company decided that they didn't want to pursue making the Crown Jewel on account of it's manufacturing complexity. We also know that there is no chance that it will ever be taken up again because there is literally no people remaining at the new company who knows how to build them. Nor will we renew our license with them.
We mention this for a couple reasons.
1) So that enthusiasts can gauge just how likely it is that an HZ will occasionally come up for sale. With only 3 dozen out there, and at least one dozen of those with owners who claim they will never give them up, they are becoming increasingly rare. (Six of them are in one location!)
2) Since Running Springs is no longer making them, and because no one still there even knows whats inside, we have adopted the service/support of all existing HZ Crown Jewels. So, in the unlikely event that anything ever goes wrong with one, the owner need not worry about investing in a dud. We will service the unit.
Also, in an effort to eliminate confusion over the long haul, we will accept the HZ Crown Jewel in trade towards our own current products.
Our original power cable, the "X15" is indeed an exact twin of the HZ Crown Jewel. However, to the best of our record keeping, there are no longer any of those out there. When we introduced the X20 we offered an instant upgrade to all X15 owners and we're pretty sure we've received back all that were out there to begin with. We were pretty aggressive in this effort to get them all back as there was an ever increasing confusion in the marketplace between the X15 and the HZ.
Finally, we want to thank Ron for his kind words. We are very pleased that he is enjoying his music more than ever before.
