Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
2 S) l" V) k2 }) D" bthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
- J7 r- I7 L* x( I Cthe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
- P" R" i( I3 |" ]# Y [! bmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
7 l! O# s0 n" @/ R7 a# K; X0 u6 O# W: J
(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
: r" H/ J2 {% q: ~# z* Q' S
! c- s+ y, J- l+ I- W/ K: g' c% ~ J
Click on either of the above images for more information.
4 _1 S0 i* } n6 S9 C
. m% Z/ W" @" D1 }6 H, {' y
+ S! D' ]! W, b* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
' W( G) a1 x. _4 X0 ~beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
: |' H3 k5 Q8 P; k. C! DThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
9 n( I" F4 K4 u, k# K1 u
6 h0 [( Z |: n# J. B+ q
; d, t$ C5 h- M0 x& ]
Nagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
# z- ^9 l: D% s' L
7 s5 x- I6 Z' P% N6 l: k$ @
Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
$ H+ ?- c% F$ [1 T0 {( ~/ _$ K
; l6 t* y" t. t8 `
Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
! h+ L- c5 y* Z. {. t
1 U$ n: p. _: P: y/ O) kNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
, N" S- l. L0 O$ C& }3 P& k) n5 Z3 B9 _5 H
! C8 X8 J/ a0 k3 S# bApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
8 P# Y6 \% x; q1 b! J, [
have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
+ y$ |/ W9 Q0 W3 Ttherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
' A6 q! D* d0 t+ F# X* Rrecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
' V5 q/ |7 S3 R8 }3 s2 t% Q
DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
" U6 `: T8 b' e6 H1 krecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
9 b0 d$ D5 a+ E5 P& a
truly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
* W1 a3 A n" I6 |3 p
be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
6 R; e: \) K5 \& p
electronics and be very expensive.
" ]3 V' u( U' F# r) u/ T1 _7 W& t- P/ l) d0 N: M! `
$ H f9 ~& f t4 j6 U! E: t6 ?
Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
! R! J+ E! u# I8 _, ?- N
7 U* ?/ [9 `* N5 g
' q% l5 B( k6 |. p7 QTape for the Nagra SN
1 b8 i$ _8 K: [/ W! \
' ^6 z" S# i4 h: d! s8 w2 r0 W
8 j2 M2 @ w0 [! `! v7 o' ~. i, jI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
* q" n. p i. Q# E0 h) g! F
the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
* A. `0 i" L8 p4 ]- Iwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
' k" s# [8 Q6 ~. D+ C9 p- n
tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
( |* N0 M2 e# k! R3 }0 S
'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
: E. [2 I) k5 {
the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
7 c( O' L# U9 ^' R1 t& X# v) fseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
. M4 @& h( q) k" k% B) E" M: d
onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
8 m6 `- i! J5 Q% Q" P0 X
things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
; e9 D) o/ d) o2 f
VERY silly money.
$ X4 l+ M. P) F8 H* y$ E
7 Z# K" }3 }$ V+ `
$ ]" y+ F3 G7 D/ h