Marantz 3300 Preamp with Center Channel output

[Simon A]

I'm not knowledgeable about Marantz gear so I'm asking in case someone here knows the answer. The 3300 is a unit which came out in 1973. It is a Stereo preamp. Why would there be a Center channel output? Was this for people playing music in Mono to be heard through a dedicated Mono amp/speaker? Perhaps this was added for people who wanted to have music in another room?

 

[atrocity]

I'm not knowledgeable about Marantz gear so I'm asking in case someone here knows the answer. The 3300 is a unit which came out in 1973. It is a Stereo preamp. Why would there be a Center channel output? Was this for people playing music in Mono to be heard through a dedicated Mono amp/speaker? Perhaps this was added for people who wanted to have music in another room?

Had that on a circa 1972 Lafayette. It wasn't powered, so it required a powered speaker of some type. According to the manual, it was for use in rooms where the left and right speakers were very far apart to avoid a "hole in the middle" effect.

I actually had an appropriate speaker and used it, but I don't remember if it really made a huge difference or not. I was a lot less discerning at 14 than now...

 

[Simon A]

So I guess the signal was a sum of both left and right signals then.

Thanks for your input!

 

[gene_stl]

The service manual with circuit diagram is available from HiFi Engine
It takes the speaker levels from each side , attenuates them and then sums them. The level control would seem handy but I would rather it got the signal at line level in the first place. Would be a fairly easy modification to make.

 

[atrocity]

So I guess the signal was a sum of both left and right signals then.

Oops! Yes, I meant to explicitly say that and just forgot.

Ancient memory just came back to me: At one point, I ran a wire under the house to the other side of the room and put that mono speaker center rear, so it was normal stereo up front and summed mono behind. I don't remember at all how it sounded, it just seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

[Simon A]

Oops! Yes, I meant to explicitly say that and just forgot.

Ancient memory just came back to me: At one point, I ran a wire under the house to the other side of the room and put that mono speaker center rear, so it was normal stereo up front and summed mono behind. I don't remember at all how it sounded, it just seemed like a good idea at the time.

Thanks again!