Well i can not answer the question if they are base or not because i dont know....
And you made alot of sence when you quoted the A-Spec "difference" might only be the springs and a typical buyer would not know that..
That might be true...
My 05 Tl A/T Base part number is not even the same as the ones in the pictures. so it might be a-spec.... and they might not be a-spec.
Someone have anymore CLUES

 

No body????

 

Got the shocks pu ton today and it appears that the rear shocks has the same part number as the base shocks that came out of the car!!!! but the front has diffrent numbers as the A-specs. it ended in Sep Ao4 which base didnt only SEP BLAnk blank blank. it rides pretty good and i hope i didnt pay to much for base shocks which i am pretty sure that they are.. it does sag in the back!!! which i dont like. This is the only reason why i bought it cause the pictures of his car didnt sag liek everyone else. i dont understand why it was H-techs in the front and S-tech in the rear!! and S-tech in the front should make it lower by a little bit. he told me that the reason why he did it this way because of rear Sagging which it still does sag on my car but it didnt on his car. WHAT should i do i will post pictures up soon. dont get me wrong car does ride pretty good.... really good but it Sags and i dont think they are Aspec Shocks