Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
" ?/ |7 m3 H3 O p. wthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
& ?# W/ q& V/ V3 D# ]
the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
/ u' Y8 h0 X! }4 }& n
machines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
3 X2 C; l( E9 x4 l8 ?# c: g' b5 a/ J
' @' I& d# Y& G! ?8 P; M
(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
1 A2 H8 s* `2 k
8 p3 Y" I; B3 N" i1 Z
U4 ~+ v1 g. M# z3 CClick on either of the above images for more information.
8 q2 t1 S w z0 C
& d0 |) D6 H7 b6 b4 m" I8 j. c! g" L/ o4 f/ b
* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
" G& {0 S. ^( \* U1 B: Obeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
0 _# q) |& h6 p! k! x+ X7 e+ a
There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
$ p& g+ C2 J' k. L8 t
) A ?6 D7 o! C0 O
6 m. T# N' k; Q+ c {% h+ K, @! V! D
Nagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
: Z# b F) D! y+ l9 ~' ]9 n
$ |* l- a t5 _Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
* p8 [. ]) V8 o( l
% n6 d5 l* ~$ U! o5 S
Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
: _8 F5 F2 t1 V& l: h+ X: h) Y+ W2 ~( s$ S6 [8 F
Nagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
' l" M& n9 z: U4 b
+ m, @2 g4 ]. X. n" I
/ ` F! e2 [: n( n4 s" v# |Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
) l6 J% j# l: r: _$ l5 n
have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
; z7 v( l/ E$ E" v- B+ `
therefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
7 g! P) ^2 o5 I8 y: jrecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
( v) J% K& U9 @DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
6 Q! H+ d( W) Urecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
, q- ?+ B* b5 |& o2 Etruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
2 }& k0 v2 z: j \) [be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
7 V1 _% @8 O& m Melectronics and be very expensive.
9 j& t$ O( [4 |* ]/ @; I
$ O3 J3 @- ?" r: W9 y
/ d0 t& V3 g* c2 Q1 Y& rCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
! \! x' d6 u# V, r$ z9 G
- c: `- K6 P l- L
5 X, [6 ]- ]# V
Tape for the Nagra SN
1 o$ h+ c9 ]1 ~! @( [& a5 G# |4 r2 Z
( @1 j' h% g O% O0 H
I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
. v2 O) ~( R# ~3 g7 v4 lthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
" c! X( q* I6 n& g" t' G8 swanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
' w/ Y6 o, b# c! m) g* M
tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
9 f+ F. G/ k/ t1 s X7 c0 l0 r'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
0 k* i* m2 s2 \7 o, Z8 xthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
! R P( k1 p1 Z- n! T# ]% Zseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
! U3 r. e+ ?) Z5 e! j
onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
6 K) x& }# X' l' ?$ j9 s% h1 athings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
) t! Z. L% n5 z: LVERY silly money.
- M7 w/ I# x8 ] K+ m
4 z% v4 m+ x1 t+ D+ j3 z y" ~4 }) T) I, [ c. l8 I9 N