It's an old trick to use the tape monitor (out, then back in) to accomodate a graphic equalizer. Whatever is attached to the tape monitor can have more than one output.

I read about balanced line output in home stereo once in a while, but it is really not necessary. Balanced line was used in commercial installations such as theaters where the line level source had to drive amplifiers that were located hunderds of feet away, resulting in hum and loss of high frequency.