Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
, F* D8 Z4 t& l1 ?; h) F" dthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
6 _) k9 H1 g/ nthe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
- D- e4 U6 A! imachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
3 n& D( L' h( ?6 x: _# N
4 L4 d* r: R: u! z; D( T3 v2 _(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
; U9 T @( ^9 p: u/ `! H
: K/ D8 t8 @, ?3 K* U3 A+ u \
& E8 P+ \" V2 \7 jClick on either of the above images for more information.
* E# W' J* ~. ]( `4 {. U% x) F( A! b8 E/ a3 H: [
% f" I6 }5 k* {! a
* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
% ~. f- I' W/ S, B* I) }+ Y0 y4 d) d
beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
# H$ w4 ]3 k. U v1 g5 N& uThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
/ A7 U# C% R) k# f+ v
; g* g& N7 O, K. `2 O3 M( k
6 M! ~1 ?) p- q* ONagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
- Z. e% ^4 ~# ^- K' e
* y" V3 w5 `0 |. `& h- M" ?Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
- \! ?3 h$ O) x5 ]+ h/ A
) Z6 m" Y% M+ J% b* j& T' RNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
9 M% B& e+ X7 p
7 `+ z8 A' F0 [* }2 W) o4 \Nagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
1 n8 A) ~# R+ B0 _
% q4 a' H) O$ j! p. B- G
$ O0 |. m) H4 l2 E" GApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
3 E' v: o" c" D* T* v
have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
- U# @0 N* Y1 u3 ^) m! r+ Mtherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
9 B5 V2 ^. ~/ n
recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
1 Y: E/ i/ b, X" d6 I6 D
DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
$ i" x% W O( C/ V0 y+ N" ]6 V
recorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
8 N- I! S( g3 S# q6 n5 Struly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
3 ?) t/ t$ V5 O
be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
$ p. h8 z/ n6 I
electronics and be very expensive.
7 b7 V, r T% [
2 i8 `% j1 H6 V- c8 n+ ]8 M4 [3 b: E- l: m+ `/ O0 O" f+ h2 y
Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
5 U- W1 t" p5 R1 J
2 a' A( G) k. f9 t7 {3 R V. t
" h3 j4 x* k3 Q5 w% O% }9 TTape for the Nagra SN
* m6 D; M% _% ^' k I' a+ Z4 V+ c' S0 I( H
+ W) J) G( Y p( ? A4 k/ qI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
: P) f! Q& u; Nthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
8 D/ h* q$ i1 O4 m! p- O6 p' t
wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
4 d9 F3 z. O" Z* K# z. r+ \+ l2 Z
tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
! k( k# Q, k L) ~'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
7 r0 I# ^ ?7 q1 l) a/ m' ^1 L0 othe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
! U6 C' i3 { K& j. i& y# Gseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
v+ o D! o$ A# {. k7 i" Tonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
9 ]: e' |# h; v9 @2 ]% Kthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
! U, d8 ]: F+ S7 w' n* VVERY silly money.
: p. b7 M9 d K. _7 \ B9 Y
% P+ _" F0 E0 Z8 W, Z3 s2 ^
3 r3 |' j! u3 m" f8 R7 h! F