BSR TD-20 (c. 1967)

Name: BSR TD-20
Brand: BSR

Little is documented about the BSR TD-20, and nearly all of it comes from one British period source. Studio Sound (December 1967, p.47) introduced it as BSR's third tape deck. It followed the TD.2, the company's first, which had already been in production for nearly eight years. A new-product note earlier that year (Studio Sound, January 1967, p.35) listed light mechanical push buttons, three speeds and a pause control as the deck's features.

The same December review carried the manufacturer's specification. Tape speeds were 7½, 3¾ and 1⅞ ips. Wow and flutter was quoted at 0.1% at 7½ ips, 0.2% at 3¾ ips and 9.3% at 1⅞ ips. Dimensions were 12¼ × 10 × 4¼ inches. Prices were £14 for the half-track version and £15 for the quarter-track version. The deck was made at BSR's Monarch Works, Old Hill, Staffordshire.

The review's measured section included a frequency-response plot from the half-track head at a reference level of 0 dB = 1 mV. The reviewer described a flutter component around 3 Hz plus additional high-frequency flutter, and noted that the ear is relatively insensitive to such low-frequency disturbance. After that December 1967 review, the TD-20 seems to have attracted little further attention in the period record.