Bsr Transcription Tt

AUDITECH

Well-Known Member
got this bsr table today,it has a use meter on it and what is
a transcription tt,the model is a 810
 
Transcription discs

Never heard of a transcription disc or did I misunderstand the meaning of your post? I have trouble telling when people don't capitalize or use punctuation :)

I believe transcription TTs were used at radio stations with 16PRM discs for subscribed programming and such. 16RPM allowed for long programs to be economically syndicated on record. They probably got almost an hour per side (that's just a guess though). I have a few discs (armed forces from the 40s?) that I think are 16RPM. I have also seen large (12"+) discs that were 16RPM. They used to have one hanging from the ceiling at the old Sugar Shack records when they were at the corner by the old Ihop on University.

I have a JVC DD turntable that has 78, 45, 33 and 16 RPM speeds. Looks like a high end TT but the cart struck me as unimpressive.

The hours meter probably means your TT was a professional unit from a radio station. Interesting score Dennis.
 
Does it work???

Don't know what a "use meter" is. Sold a few of these new. They were beasts to work on. Many came out of the box not working. They were the only new turntables I ever sold that got that distinction!

They were good looking but a b**** to work on. Never did get one that was broke to work. That why I am curious if yours runs.

Transcription tables were used by radio stations and as posted did take 16 rpm records and large records. Post if the BSR works. They were made in the mid 70's.

Eric
 
Glad she works

Always liked the looks of the 810 and its brother the 710. There is lots of stuff inside those machines. Hows the cue? Does she lower slowly?:D

Eric
 
The 810 and the 710 were completely different from other BSR changers (and a good thing too, frankly). They used a cam shaft for the automatic functions, and the arm seemed pretty good by changer standards -- certainly better than the standard BSR arm. The use meter I think was a variant of a little mercury battery powered stylus usage meter that Stanton sold for a while to help keep track of how long you had been using a stylus. I think some of the Garrards also had them.
 
bsr 810

yes it does lower slowly,you can adjust how fast and slow it works and that
works two.this thing is also heavy,the platter weights a ton.i like the shinny
buttons.most bsr tables i have seen were cheap plastic,this thing is really built.
 
I didn't know there were other TTs that slowly lowered the discs. The only one I knew of was one of ADC's Accutrac TT from the 70s. Anybody have an Accutrac? IR sensor in the cart to figure out blank spots on the disc. One Accutrac even had an ultrasonic remote control with a weird orb receiver.
 
The BSR 810: TT with the most parts ever....

Nat is right on the dot, here. This model was marketed as the most advanced TT in its day due to a completely new mechanism to handle the automatic tonearm movement.

To understand why it is never mentioned much in the vintage circles today, consider when it arrived:

* Things British in the early 70s, seen from US eyes, were that:
- They had to leak oil
- They had to go on strike
- They had to break down - and frequently
- The quality was generally poor and always quirky
- Whatever it was, it had to require *lots* of attention to keep running

British cars were the benchmarks in those days and British hi-fi got lumped in - unfairly, IMHO.

So, along comes this really well-built but complete different from a long-time British manufacturer and they come out of the box DOA - or a surprising number do so. Word gets around quickly among the dealers, too. Then the techs who are called on to fix those DOAs start talking about what a pain they are *and* the BSR warranty reimbursement nowhere covers the costs! BTW, that camshaft design was the most complicated thing I've ever seen. I hated seeing one come in the door and usually refered the owner to another shop just avoid dealing with it - unless he was a customer, of course.

Take that, along with the general reputation of British manufacturing in that day - instant product death.

Now, that's too bad because the 710/810 series was actually modeled after the Benjamin/Miracord/Elac mechanisms that were German-made and, like the many Duals still operating, last a long, long time. Go figure.

Cheers,

David
 
I was gonna say, that looks EXACTLY like a Miracord 50H tonearm! If it's built like that, it'll be working when there's nothing living left on earth except the cockroaches! :D

Regards,
Gordon.
 
bsr

i must say this turntable is built very well,the only reason i
picked it up was that i have never seen a bsr table built this heavy.
 
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