There seems to be fairly strong advice being offered to go for an amp to plug your empeg into, rather than a head unit with Aux-In. Is the difference really that significant if you get a quality head unit?

I ask because there seem to be a couple of major advantages to the 2nd head unit route. The main one is that this will give you radio, both FM and AM or even DAB, _now_. The less important one is that it would seem that you cannot route your mobile phone through your stereo speakers if you use an amp. Personally, I think the advantages in sound quality when talking on the phone and tidiness (no extra speaker in the passenger foot well) are well worth having.

I am looking at either a Nakamichi standard head unit, or a Pioneer DAB system to plug the empeg into. Will the sound quality suffer significantly relative to using an amp?

Of course, the big disadvantage with a second head unit is that I will probably have to slice up the fascia in my brand new Legacy Outback, in order to fit it in. But then the £137 cost of a replacement fascia seems insignificant relative to the cost of the sound system.

And one other thought, will I be able to rig the mobile phone mute to both head units if I do it this way?

Cheers,

Bruno
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