Some springs will work fine with stock shocks (Comptech springs come to mind). Your ride quality with a set of non-aggressive-lowering springs and stock shocks will usually be very close to stock.

However, if you slam your car 3" on full race springs (with 400/500 springrates for example), your stock shocks will crap out very soon, and your handling will be akin to a bouncy 4x4.

It's not all that bad driving around on the stock ride height. You usually don't get harassed by kids looking to race. I was stock for 2 years, and sometimes I do miss being just another non-descript-Integra in traffic.

Shingo