Thanks for the response gonk. I was just getting ready to ask a question about the balanced and unbalanced connections! I wanted to use the unbalanced RCA inputs for my 2-channel pre and the balanced XLR input (with adapter) for my 970, and use the one of the LFE outputs to go to my sub. Obviously, I know I would have to turn off on of the sources, or I would get both of them mixed in the sub. But, I wasn't sure if the RCA ins/outs and XLR ins/out were independent of each other. According to you, the inputs and outputs (both sets) are all tied together. So, you can mix and match!

Thanks again,
Dan