I am looking to put a new system into a 76 corvette. I want the system to be a shaft style unit so I am not cutting into the dash. There are companies like Custom Autosound that make systems to fit but from the forums I am hearing they are poorly built units so you are paying a lot for nothing. What I would like to know is if I am going to be running an external amp, does the quality of the head unit matter?

I have two choices; 1- buy a vintage (80's) shaft style unit from a well known company like Alpine and add an amp to help with the sound quality. With this choice I am limited to the number of current day technologies I can add such as MP3/ SD/ USB/ bluetooth etc.

The second choice is to buy a current day unit from a company like Pyle (https://www.pyleusa.com/am-fm-mpx-mp...-speakers.html). These are extremely cheap receivers but have all the current bells and whistles.

Question - If I buy the cheap Pyle receiver can I make up for the poor quality receiver with quality amps and speakers?

Any help is much appreciated.