Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
3 P+ D- p% W8 P' uthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
4 ~8 S% P# p' V( a% j
the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
, ]: K5 ~+ T: s& Q3 G7 ?; cmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
0 E4 j4 h, `7 m8 N) a& L
; [+ h4 Y3 `/ |( I) r7 v6 T. x(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
z& S; w5 R5 s' a, L# K
/ Q( Q9 s/ u' x! ]
3 S4 m3 {3 Z. l2 M& x& kClick on either of the above images for more information.
_9 I& p! f5 B7 J& B7 P0 I. H7 a" s3 v2 E# @$ z
. P# t# U4 }+ h6 t
* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
* J" W9 N# W6 N4 Y
beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
+ H) N! ]& c& S$ y
There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
% C/ N! o5 l5 f8 t8 |; ?5 F/ ?' N7 d, r: K1 s( M* z0 x
# x' x6 i' \" |. L6 T, i' X% F
Nagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
$ Y, \1 g* @/ m5 G
( \6 y& b) L& D6 G- O# Y* I2 ?- KNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
6 c' t( [2 Y: m( Z6 ?. H- p Z. R: a( V
9 i6 i; I1 {8 g0 M: d, g3 u6 G, c1 Q
Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
4 D& n3 l4 w% [
2 y- S) r+ ^+ [. X0 JNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
+ z1 C9 a; D8 Z& S: z, _4 @
L' R* w, J) E% @% Y4 i. h* ~
5 c/ |0 f, o! B# _, d: D. m" SApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
& r) _* i- S6 Ohave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
B& j- ~6 R9 F8 S) L
therefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
2 o' t9 C4 H3 i. p$ t
recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
1 P* c) R( L# r1 [DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
?" \* r* n4 l- r. @recorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
; @! a7 H! x. }) j3 ptruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
n* {! ^. c, h$ F
be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
9 A& G7 i; F1 [4 celectronics and be very expensive.
! r/ a; G( ?7 a, H
8 S" ]) V1 z3 |" ~" `$ m% ^0 | t+ J7 ?, `# o- T
Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
& t+ G: v1 `# O' J7 g2 J+ ]+ {* B* V8 f! M
* M$ x/ s9 e6 P/ L" qTape for the Nagra SN
5 {4 \6 ^" g% l/ b" n, B
, p5 }% p. K+ Y: c4 @' U, j' j
4 a6 @. A* _; ^7 T9 r, r; ?( ~I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
8 M# I! F/ z+ u$ Y8 K! c% d* \4 v
the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
5 y6 ~. M3 f" u7 \wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
% t8 K& c$ f9 ~5 F: ]9 Itape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
; w6 O7 x9 h' ^4 `1 x" I
'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
3 r+ `0 @2 r6 ]/ tthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
9 h' J7 @0 Q; |6 o% Zseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
2 f" _9 O Z/ f$ l5 y3 Jonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
8 \; S r6 g m( l6 x9 z
things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
$ D; V. W& W% f; B! B- k# r6 R$ pVERY silly money.
# T' A! f7 P, d+ T4 P" `
: h+ T* j0 A- o
+ J- Z/ S' y, u$ i