BSR 610/X (c. 1970–1971)
Documentation of the BSR 610/X is thin. No original manual or spec sheet appears to survive. Two period sources from the turn of 1970-71 still give a reasonably clear picture of the model. It was a BSR McDonald turntable sold as a complete "Total Turntable" package, so the buyer got the deck, base, dust cover, and cartridge together rather than piecemeal.
BSR's own advertising in High Fidelity (December 1970, p.132) called the 610/X the company's finest turntable yet. The ad listed a synchronous motor, viscous cueing, dual-range anti-skate, a Decormatic power base that shuts the whole system off after the last record, a tinted dust cover, and a bundled Shure M-93E elliptical magnetic cartridge. It also claimed the price was about what competitors charged for a bare turntable alone.
What appears to be the one surviving independent test came a few months later. HiFi/Stereo Review (April 1971, p.30) measured wow and flutter at 0.04 percent at 78 rpm. Combined vertical-and-lateral rumble was −25 dB, and lateral-only rumble was −27 dB, both NAB unweighted. A wave-analyzer check showed the rumble was concentrated almost entirely at 30 Hz. The review also noted the stylus-force and anti-skating adjustments and concluded that the 610/X operated smoothly and flawlessly.
- Type: turntable, sold complete with power base, tinted dust cover, and cartridge
- Drive: synchronous motor
- Features (per BSR): viscous cueing, dual-range anti-skate, Decormatic power-off after last record
- Bundled cartridge: Shure M-93E elliptical magnetic
- Measured: wow/flutter 0.04% at 78 rpm; rumble −25 dB combined, −27 dB lateral (NAB unweighted)
Exact production dates, list price, and sales history are unconfirmed. What is known about the 610/X comes almost entirely from those two 1970-71 sources. It seems to have been advertised widely enough to earn a test report.
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