Marantz tube-era VU meter unit?

[cyclotronic]

This is sort of a cross post from Dollars and Sense -- see here if you want the link to the estate sale this was seen at with more pictures, etc:

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/holy-smokes-marantz-sale-in-nj.736003/

Amazing stack of equipment in this house:

What is this??:

My really uneducated guess is the client for this install wanted big meters, so someone made him this unit to match the model 7 preamp above it? Or some rare model or prototype I've never seen before? What might the 4 switches do? Is that a headphone jack at bottom-center?

 

[crooner]

Looks like it was indeed a custom made unit with matching front panel. No silk screening of any kind or an obvious power button. It may just be passive or perhaps the customer was bi-amping and this was the second (or third!) amp, some kind of solid state prototype. And yes, that appears to be a headphone jack.

By the type of equipment and the location I wouldn't be surprised if the owner knew Sid Smith.

You never know, but it could have been a testing ground for new designs by Marantz.

I know McIntosh had a favorite location for testing tuners, which was a regular house of a dedicated enthusiast...

 

[tonebells]

I would bet on it being a speaker switcher.

 

[crooner]

I would bet on it being a speaker switcher.

Most likely yes, the output from the Marantz 9's is sent to this box where it can be routed to perhaps a couple of speaker pairs (early multi-room?) and headphone jack as well. I wonder if the Model 9's have the 70V output option....

 

[crooner]

I would love to see the back of this equipment cabinet. I am sure it had dedicated inner shelving to support the weight plus forced ventilation of some sort. And perhaps a small door for access...

 

[mech986]

I could concur that it might be a speaker selector, but flip wafer switches of that era could not handle that much power. I suggest that it might have been a VU level or possibly a power meter, handling mainly the line level preamp signals instead.

 

[airtime]

I have seen setups like this first hand when I was an electrician in my youth. Usually there would be an opening on the bottom and an open top. That's it for ventilation. As far as access the entire cabinet would roll out.

The biggest setup I ever saw was a pharmaceutical CEO that lived on the North shore of Long Island, NY. The room was a tremendous library that was something like 100x50 feet. It was lined with books on three sides and windows on the front wall. In many areas in place of the books there were collections of records and tapes. The speakers were three tremendous flat panels that looked like room dividers. The subwoofers on each side of the room were as big as a table. At least 3 feet square and downward firing woofers.

The component "table" and I do mean table! Was this big flat long table with what I can only describe as a pile of components all light up and continuously on. If asked I couldn't even tell you what or where the ON button for this thing would have been.

Too bad it was in the days before iPhone cameras. Heck it was in the days before cable TV!