Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
* ~1 S" A7 s- K. [. N" d" Pthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
) n) c( e# Z0 p9 S) B2 L/ w7 }3 `) ^the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
; q; j2 q/ \2 d. o. y& Mmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
$ o( n9 _, T" q0 D2 B/ |; \4 u6 W
4 o6 X1 y _. l7 Z9 k% i6 Z, W
(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
2 L" a. M9 O/ \$ P2 c+ x* h
( O$ T F6 ^* r4 Y
, |- Y9 ]3 U+ H. Z* P) ]( RClick on either of the above images for more information.
7 u6 W$ m/ H, ~: G, D6 j: n, ]& Q! p2 H$ ^
9 W' O: I% N' Q/ r* r; O
* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
& k5 |! O2 V& Q- g1 q8 P$ ebeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
1 l4 b8 M2 _" H* }There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
4 X! p' W: y' t3 y5 `* @; |
; g* X+ }6 \3 i3 I/ H) U& N0 z7 m8 @
* @. |. o! `9 k, K. Z9 h* V; G3 G
Nagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
6 S1 r- d5 V7 k5 q3 u; T. l7 T( n! ?/ N9 }9 j4 L
Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
, k4 v7 D& i* ~: l
5 R d: d& e: [3 LNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
1 J2 R1 _# n; t* o( B [
' {8 j' E3 {4 a" N0 ZNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
0 M5 t9 q8 u, ~
5 }# b1 w. S- o4 |$ R+ B, B: [$ s7 S p n' e8 S& O
Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
/ i' I( d ~% U. `7 P2 l" Fhave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
. {( l, |1 x8 n; V
therefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
9 ~4 O! i2 v/ O; F8 d, ?
recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
5 ~/ {: ]+ w+ S2 G& L! G+ O5 IDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
. }. X p: ?0 u. g) C5 X
recorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
6 D+ Z) H" R5 a/ l+ D# q5 Y Ytruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
- [ {6 O4 s& [3 I! L
be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
& a; U9 A: H/ J& K' o3 v7 m
electronics and be very expensive.
8 z' j9 }1 ]6 W5 d6 S% ^, v% A; ?# o
* Z2 X; G7 o1 [3 P" }) `6 C% i
9 m! ]4 t2 }- M4 ~, |/ c6 gCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
" V! P0 l1 W3 j+ t; b* L" u5 `# @3 b1 I; I* a" @: G
0 K& ]# W9 \1 G0 XTape for the Nagra SN
. W0 [4 ^; w# r' {" |3 W) n
; D+ H% b2 _! g8 c2 I$ ^
9 z9 V4 g" D( s4 ]5 ]) t: N: jI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
/ \9 G' N8 Z3 P. R9 L) {2 N
the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
# X& w/ R* O% V7 d0 Ywanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
' @. |: q2 s. w; d3 N% b
tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
7 M" N2 X) D5 |( C8 p; }/ `* X- X
'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
; @$ N4 {2 h# y# l
the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
6 `1 z- o4 n( K+ b
several pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
! u7 }! I$ V, k* c& T- t
onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
/ A6 y3 i( R# R4 ~6 A6 |things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
# j4 ^4 Z1 n$ B# K
VERY silly money.
4 c/ |) Q0 M4 y% B, t( s6 ?
4 {# Z) X/ a( O/ A! E" f: i! f+ k7 ?) Q+ f4 O