Won't invalidate warranty afaik - that's what my local dealership told me. Having said that, waiting wont hurt either
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The one thing to remember about dealers is that they will sell you what
they want to shift in stock - not necessarily what's best for your car. I come from HiFi land (home not car) and I can guarantee you that you're more likely to damage a speaker by under driving it than by overdriving it. Put simply trying to drive a 40W speaker from a 30W amp will cause no damage whereas trying to drive a 100W speaker by the same amp is more likely to start clipping and damage the voice coil. Hence, keeping your speakers as close to the rated output of the amp per channel is essential for good sound quality. This is why I chose the Alpines as they match the head unit well (and sound bloody good).
Also, you won't notice a difference going from 40W RMS to 50W in terms of sound level because that scale is logorithmic not linear... The speakers will end up sounding just as loud. Sonic characteristics are more determined by materials used and construction which, at this price point, are all fairly similar
for any given type of speaker - basically put, most speakers in the sub £200 bracket will sound similar if they are of the same construction and you probably won't notice any major improvements until you get to the £250+ region (which was too expensive for me)...but whichever ones you go for, make sure you get the same for front and rear (4 matched).
It sounds like the ones you've seen are components not coaxials (different construction), which are generally better made anyway (but more difficult to install as you have to find space for the crossover unit)... But yes, components would sound better than the equivalent coaxials most instances if you're happy with the cost increase.
The bass from the Alpines was fine, I only installed the sub as I wanted that lower octave for when the dubstep came on
(The Alpines are shallower than the originals btw).
The Honda official speakers aren't special in any way and are simply "standard" coax's which of course Honda would recommend - for the price they charge so would I if I were in their shoes
and the actual speakers are "built into" a spacer so, yes, trimming them out is required to fit the new ones but this is a fairly easy process (that dent they mentioned is probably the connecting socket which most professional installers would simply discard anyway (and either direct solder or use spade connectors)).
The actual biggest problem with the sound is the head unit itself - which has built in equalisation which is neigh on impossible to remove. So the biggest bang for your buck would be changing the head unit (something which I'm considering doing myself during the spring when finances allow - plus it'll be a big DIY job involving drilling, cutting and sanding so I want the weather to be better
@Chris, install them behind her back and see how long it takes her to notice a difference. I have friends who have replaced major components in their home HiFi setups (cd player unit for instance) and it's taken a whole year before their other halves noticed
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