Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
$ Q, @, o. w7 G- O+ i7 I# Sthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
) z& H o' K x! Rthe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
- M; g% f/ B9 J$ W C/ \& A
machines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
' K2 @: A f" L/ \; \7 p, w
* w: p0 \6 i2 U/ e$ }
(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
9 M) R {# x" L! y
$ `. O5 D/ T. d/ d k( S/ w0 L w t' j! o* D& g$ p! Y
Click on either of the above images for more information.
5 {: z4 x% w' e& k' w1 {' w* d o% y/ a. E
8 M0 g' O, |! M' B* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
: b7 L) T) m$ \; E
beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
8 h+ B2 X H6 o/ K8 `# } T. pThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
$ S! r9 V0 x5 S9 ^0 z0 T" }1 v9 Q. g
* Z( i) v0 s. z0 Z! C q
2 p& n: P. f g1 S. `Nagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
' f5 o' e, k) e; @) |% s5 ]* ]9 a; I3 s, G
Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
# e. s# m' H3 c& _6 \2 C2 D; Y
' M' X2 S* A2 I- r, m2 [1 M+ D
Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
$ K; M7 }5 H* I% @8 I$ f" ^
* C. n" K8 {9 |; P( b eNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
$ e& q: u7 T' F& M: M
5 w. V' D/ i8 _0 @/ `' V
) {4 \, l, _2 \6 @- g+ z: |
Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
2 N& L4 Y: V" o2 a
have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
( g4 E/ h8 @5 q1 j! G- q
therefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
# e) W% q$ g) E; d. j) drecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
$ J/ T( M% I- i3 d) T: R2 N" C" ~
DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
5 l+ s" \ \9 F: w) s# y3 ~
recorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
1 `) ?: ]) g8 struly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
0 R6 k1 w5 u9 Y- y+ `% {be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
& T$ V. N! u7 g; ~electronics and be very expensive.
* w8 H. f( L: E9 q
& ^4 `; q0 n; z2 X" G9 g* Z6 z6 |) p& {
Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
4 H! _2 O" A4 C' S! H
5 H& l/ X' ?8 i' K2 w! J l! }) n( g* \$ [. T) o
Tape for the Nagra SN
C6 \1 Y! E! G- [
, z) J* {* q2 F5 d; P& q7 @1 J
8 c( Y! a P- i) B0 E3 rI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
N" {: n% c" d, X; l0 h5 K
the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
) i! u8 z: g6 m( F8 }wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
5 F8 T% H3 E: h" l1 k
tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
. f7 x' S. s$ y5 q0 m% X& Y'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
! U. [4 }5 [6 ?- [
the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
: ?; D# m" k, S2 h6 i* \several pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
6 C- N. u+ Y( o0 f
onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
) i6 y3 L% N& b" A" G. s7 b1 Mthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
- F4 N) Y# L, m7 MVERY silly money.
+ @0 i; G# f0 W; U0 _6 P2 I+ y% l. T
. E$ K* M5 X! ^5 e
) V/ N" @- k+ G( P4 \