I'm retired and am no shill for SR. I worked in the AV industry for a couple of years in the early aughts as a break from management consulting, but we didn't carry SR (and, at the time I paid retail for the SR AC Master Couplers). I'm long retired and have no financial or other interest in SR or any other audio brand. I pay retail for every thing I buy, unless I find a sale or closeout on something I want to check out. My components are relatively modest, but they are of sufficient quality that I can easily recommend the improvements wrought by accessories from SR and others (I'm a big fan of Herbie's products as well). At this point I only have one SR cable in my system (on my REL), so I can attest that you don't need to have an all SR ecosystem to benefit from the fuses, HFTs, FEQs, and such.
Having said all that, I AM a shill for teen car control clinics, the real deal where we get the kids out on the skid-pad, learning emergency stopping and lane change skills, practicing what to do when you put two wheels (or more) off the pavement, even backing and parallel-parking drills. We give the kids and their parents a couple of race track laps at speed and then let the kids safely drive their cars on the track with a skilled instructor riding shotgun. These are skills that simply aren't taught in the typical "Driver's Ed" course, at least in California.
Having said all that, I AM a shill for teen car control clinics, the real deal where we get the kids out on the skid-pad, learning emergency stopping and lane change skills, practicing what to do when you put two wheels (or more) off the pavement, even backing and parallel-parking drills. We give the kids and their parents a couple of race track laps at speed and then let the kids safely drive their cars on the track with a skilled instructor riding shotgun. These are skills that simply aren't taught in the typical "Driver's Ed" course, at least in California.