BSR 610 (circa 1970–1971)

The BSR McDonald 610/X "Total Turntable" was a mid-priced automatic changer, and it came with a lot in the box. BSR's own advertising in High Fidelity (December 1970, p.132) called it their "finest ever." The ad stressed that the price - which included a tinted dust cover, a Decormatic power base (which turned the system off after the last record), and a Shure M-93E elliptical magnetic cartridge - was competitive with what others charged for the bare turntable. The deck used a synchronous motor, viscous cueing, and a dual-range anti-skate control.

A test report in HiFI-Stereo (April 1971, p.30) measured wow and flutter at 0.04% at 78 rpm. Combined vertical and lateral rumble (NAB unweighted) came in at -25 dB, with lateral rumble alone at -27 dB. The reviewer noted that the rumble was almost entirely concentrated at 30 Hz. Stylus-force and anti-skating adjustments were both located near the tonearm pivot.

Documentation beyond these two review-era sources is thin. The 610 appears to have been sold for only a few years in the early 1970s. It shared its basic changer mechanism with other BSR McDonald models of the period, but BSR packaged it with a better cartridge and the Decormatic base as a value-add.