Car Stereos: Aftermarket speakers on an infinity system, infinity speakers, infinity system

Question
I have done some research prior to asking this, but I feel like the more research I do the more confused I'm getting. Im hoping you can help me out in Layman's terms. I have a 2003 Eclipse with the Infinity sound system. The center speaker was hit or miss as far as working when I got it. I finally got tired of the cracking from it so I disconnected it.

I was looking at upgrading the speakers but then I ran into all the posts about integrating or bypassing the stock amp and replacing the head unit. I was looking to upgrade the factory speakers to some aftermarket ones (without upgrading the amp or HU). However since the Infinity system and speakers are all at 2 ohm my options were quite limited. I found some Infinity speakers at 2 Ohms. However with the crossover in the amp I am wondering if these will sound better or worse. I know enough about sound systems to get myself in trouble.

Here are the links to the two sets of speakers I was looking at getting:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00190VQPI/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=AS9U...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0018CSPCE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A2LY...

I know anything over the paper cones of the stock speakers is better. Will these speakers be louder as well or am I limited by something from within the stock amp / HU.

Thanks for any advice you can lend to my confusion. Also If I decide to upgrade my HU or amp down the road is there anything I should consider now when buying the 2 Ohm speakers.


-Zach

Answer
Hi Zach,

The 2ohm system really puts you in a pickle.  The issue is that if you buy 2ohm speakers, and want to upgrade the amp down the road to an aftermarket one, it will undoubtedly be a 4x<something>w @ 4ohms per channel.

If you put a 2ohm speaker on a 4ohm channel, the best case scenario is it cuts out to protect you.  Worst case is it fries the amp.

You could always just put 4ohm speakers on the 2ohm circuit for now.  Too much impedance is OK; it's too little that's a problem.  You'd probably lose some power in the process, but you'd at least be futureproofed.

I've never listened to the Infinity system in the Eclipse so I don't know how much value there is in keeping the factory amplifier in place.  I'd suggest visiting a stereo store and giving a good listen to some decks with speakers hooked directly up to them without an amp to get an idea for the sound you'd get from them; you might find it'd be better to bypass the whole amp deal entirely.

Justin