Preamp to subwoofer

I have a preamp that has 3 pairs of outputs, two unbalanced and one balanced. Can I use one pair of pre-outs for a subwoofer while using another pair for an amplifier?

I think I can and I don't see any reason why this wouldn't work.

Any ideas?

Yes you can.
In fact subwoofers have amps.
So the outputs can be used as you choose.
However, remember that the one going to your separate (probably) amp will have information of a sub.
HTH

So you're saying that all three outputs are 'live' all the time, and it doesn't matter if one or all three are connected to an amp at the same time?

I'm not sure what you mean by "have information of a sub". Doesn't each output have the entire audio spectrum regardless of what it's plugged into?

Thanks for the reply, Steve

Steve:

Using outlaw 990 all three are active @ same time.
There might be a different volume level because of balanced vs. unbalanced. I don't know for sure as I've never used the balanced out for sub.

As to "information to sub": The sub output's info is low frequency. Others not so.
HTH

I'm not using a 990, just a regular old preamp with three pairs of outputs. But I understand what you are saying.
If I did this I would run the balanced pre-outs to my amp and one pair of the single ended pre-outs to my sub using a Y connector on the pre-outs.
I can't see any reason why this wouldn't work but I wanted to get a second opinion before I start buying the components for this system.
The other option is to buy a preamp with a sub-out, but then I'm limited to only a few brands of preamps.


I appreciate the help on this, thanks...Steve

Steve: Make sure the sub has crossover on it.
A 990 is the best bet. You can set crossovers for your center, mains, surrounds, and back surrounds.
Outlaw has given us a greatly reduced price on 990s.
As you can tell fromy my sig I think it's great I have one in each of two systems.

The sub would be an LFM-2 so it would have a crossover on it.
This is for a bedroom system with two monitors and a sub.
I already have a full blown HT with a 950/770/LFM1/B&W N804's.
The 990 would work great for this system but it's more expensive than my budget allows and I really don't need all of it's capabilties.

Since it's a stereo pre-amp, make sure what those three pairs of outputs are. I'd guess that with one pair being balanced and the others unbalanced that the balanced and at least one pair of unbalanced are "pre-amp outputs" (thus always active and downstream of the pre-amp's volume control). I'd be a little worried that one might be a record output, though, in which case it might not be active all the time and would not be affected by the volume control - thus making it a bad candidate for connecting to the sub. That's the only concern that I'd have about this arrangement.

Thanks gonk for the advice. The several preamps that I'm looking at have seperate tape outs and the pre-outs are clearly marked as such.