[hairlesshobo]

There is no reason why you cant run the ipod or tablet straight to the amp(s). There are a couple things I would keep an eye out for.

First, make sure that your tablet of choice has volumes controls that increase/decrease in small steps. If your tablet/phone only has 10-15 steps of volume then with a powerful amp, the volumes will tend to jump drastically and be hard to tweak.

Second, depending on the music app on the tablet, you will likely find yourself without a software equalizer. Unless you find the pperfect speakers, you will want to install a hardware equalizer.

Third, if you are running multiple amps, you will most likely need at least a 2 or 3 channel crossover. Some amps have this built on, some do not. If you have amps without crossovers, you will want to purchase either an active crossover, or passive in line crossovers for your speakers.

With all of this said, it is definitely possible to run a tablet or phone without a head unit as long as it is setup accordingly. I have done this before in the past when I had a head unit with no line in.