Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
2 t# [ f7 C2 w9 o' Q0 q% G0 R5 H1 T7 ethe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
( [3 t! J# f2 d/ s9 z+ r5 H4 E
the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
4 C7 l1 ?& m$ C2 Pmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
( I8 `% |3 x1 ?4 \ o1 F( @/ T, s$ u C. Y
(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
" q W+ Z$ x, \+ C" w/ I
9 D9 M* z! p0 M0 z& e5 q( R7 @2 w" ?/ F2 Y
Click on either of the above images for more information.
8 r* @) y5 M3 E; U4 c/ x# [7 H/ y* c6 ^
3 _$ S5 m1 b& I- f" J) P* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
" W3 c, L! N7 c7 u! ?beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
$ ]$ e+ t3 I. X) E/ g( BThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
1 h# d6 ?, ^/ N$ m: Q4 Q$ N
0 l9 V _3 J" n3 B E
& x) ]+ y L# T2 ~/ S
Nagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
' s. W- I9 S+ g8 Z G
) j% h/ n2 u4 O% GNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
# K) K* f; @ i1 P# o- n6 D" I8 T2 P2 }" D0 s
Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
6 i& F0 ^* g. a; u" Y- A# D5 G2 U7 `) I& L" H; U, Q4 A
Nagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
* A4 t$ d) @0 ?" ^. H( w' S
, j5 F5 B# Y( M. O
. o a0 M8 l, B; y( T4 |Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
/ C+ w& W1 g, N% U, ^8 A$ W
have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
5 x/ c# Q: p6 s& E' \! p! o- ztherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
, [0 e# d2 ]8 A8 N5 V; X) y5 c9 b
recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
, r$ W1 b7 C: U- U1 LDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
7 m6 S( @6 x! a& Erecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
d* b) g! L: U: X ]3 T
truly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
$ E9 i- x! F% U- e) @
be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
6 l1 @/ K" }3 `6 E7 N, z
electronics and be very expensive.
- O( Z: _0 q# j
8 P3 _$ Y G$ _7 _4 J8 K! g. ^, v. t
Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
% X+ e8 ?4 a( Z8 m
- N1 S: ]. l9 M; F9 @: T4 H# t: _4 d# \ W L3 S9 s( Q
Tape for the Nagra SN
. S3 f! O( |/ Y9 v9 y( Z, Y
4 n! ^. X) W7 T6 }! \* p
/ _' c* ~& y& e' q) n. ]
I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
. c+ {4 |9 s7 U2 X/ z( }the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
' W. N& I* [8 w" t2 I
wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
9 q* r: g4 O( g7 u! y
tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
% |+ Q$ u; d9 V& n2 @* {
'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
, p5 k* g" @1 I1 o5 g9 v# E
the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
) M3 D; k/ L- y0 N. T! eseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
2 x u+ C9 G( k- tonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
+ H! {9 [0 @5 B6 w. I7 C" Q' Sthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
8 I% o5 P2 F* w4 Q* Z! G( o& s, ?VERY silly money.
0 w7 }5 h0 {2 e5 P4 f
/ ^ q, C% j) ?2 @5 Y" s& C9 J
2 s/ d- L8 A' [