Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
: X$ u' ^: T! ~& M0 L
the various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
- r' [, {4 L8 _6 z" c' nthe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
* p9 O( U% l1 W! y+ m3 u Lmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
# [; o& w5 j6 ~% X
, |6 R- Z4 n% i( z% Q(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
7 R( U: c: L. T5 c' a& V- x
$ Z5 {. F) L" R( Y/ R4 ]
0 R8 \" [: @8 _6 \Click on either of the above images for more information.
! }$ z! P. F( w8 a$ @
5 C7 ]7 ^' S8 V3 g& \
' d" x9 a& m6 |: d! G* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
' V% i9 |, O! k0 D; q
beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
) C+ E9 c E0 O) |; PThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
% M* |& j4 D' P. P
8 F5 R& [) a) X, y3 l; O. Q
2 z8 J+ D2 u$ D7 ZNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
: U2 V: U2 o$ o$ S5 p/ U9 Z0 T) G
0 }1 e _% W5 ]
Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
0 V7 t2 Y' ~% `% A c: e& ~# F
% _- i* `, \( G7 s1 c& q9 C( qNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
A5 Z2 o7 Z2 x/ ?" j8 n( K1 o: a& I* H
. _: D) W9 S) H1 N
Nagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
$ f4 M' ?' S# R5 v9 |2 n! K$ S7 |9 A, ]( b* r3 y
; f. p- v# @" r7 cApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
" H1 t4 C2 N; M3 ?7 i, V0 ^
have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
# \" I" t l" Ktherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
1 P$ H' {0 N% d: v2 I7 ~
recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
/ S/ v4 r8 @' e) F+ E/ N, QDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
2 n* O0 u3 U5 s/ S9 T3 I5 }1 Nrecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
2 Y! a% V$ {7 d- [) G g7 btruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
6 M5 t; O6 v2 Obe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
* q Y: t3 P! O* i; h* C
electronics and be very expensive.
5 J) K! d i; j7 X* r4 S1 N4 v
9 w6 S, B0 l: s* @7 B8 Y
3 a- A# c2 Q, W
Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
- H. P# k/ c) Z) p+ `$ [. p6 P) }" w# F
3 ?& o7 s8 R! K& C& [Tape for the Nagra SN
x% a V9 u4 ^& Y) c
! R: _3 v( L& |# }+ p5 a7 `, B# H( q) B( x% @3 \
I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
* E" o# q8 K& P& P! M% z- ~/ p
the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
( j1 d/ |7 x% ] B7 p' t
wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
e& @% f; K t2 N6 e6 }
tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
+ v2 c% a" U- ?/ I- K'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
- [: |$ j5 ~* \1 h! I
the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
7 ^' ?" k" M" g% Q% F v9 cseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
+ A; n% C9 }: R! m/ [
onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
+ |" q! _/ a x& {things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
4 p, ~/ o N7 R0 wVERY silly money.
3 S0 J: }( J6 w& h0 v; p% Q) U$ r% D
8 a O- F' o8 ~/ c