Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
8 W) `8 |1 P8 ^6 ^, @
the various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
3 E& G0 I; r7 U& ?3 ^; w& ]3 j3 t( B
the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
5 i! o) E$ R( D* p6 I7 wmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
4 v$ t" C. Y+ t
, B6 a- ?8 E: M, L4 {' N/ G6 e
(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
% @1 b0 G1 A# q" s% J( Y. C9 ~
" R# C/ H, ~ t
, P1 S1 }7 M! L! x0 D2 hClick on either of the above images for more information.
/ a9 l+ \ ~$ ?* v- }4 \" g9 o- D6 k! d8 U) l
, f# N7 Z2 Q% {6 H/ @2 q* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
! R# z& l8 i: A8 T& d9 fbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
% w2 O8 I) k. X* {* I1 A7 JThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
, M& Q ]3 \) \! Q* [3 Q! R, \8 ?9 D
; ?+ W6 ]2 g' p; }6 Z3 x
2 h& E) x* U" d. b; Y# K! |
Nagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
3 N6 A4 F4 D6 F9 {& E" A7 ~ z9 i! l% T, E
Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
$ X7 ]2 B4 t! ?1 K
6 u" X2 N5 K8 o0 C [6 n; a$ x" PNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
* j. E! {, f8 ^
7 z$ v' u. b' E2 E% eNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
4 V$ \/ t9 s, {! U6 K7 V
# k1 L8 v4 S1 U6 f: q
& S s% d& d$ D( @( s% b! LApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
. B3 ~1 j; R8 b$ u: v* Z
have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
! e$ j8 y" R' ?' i/ D z5 d
therefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
: h# H* q( [& @: i$ C2 Arecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
; Z% Y6 { {- P' LDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
! Z) L# ^: p7 l) X, B
recorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
2 u5 S* n2 d: r4 s* H3 B. X
truly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
! B U/ o% @. X8 U, J. ^) ^be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
2 @6 S9 T3 z G* l/ aelectronics and be very expensive.
: H6 T$ D9 w# d4 J, `3 Y! C" Y: K9 c8 M3 p( i, _
; Q# q$ ~" D9 u/ }/ _Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
+ e; U5 h* W% O6 ]$ j- k1 u- v# C; [! e3 v7 c+ f$ N
3 E" P! U: q4 c& GTape for the Nagra SN
" W8 @; g8 Y0 d4 E
+ f9 T" m2 N! L/ K
! i- K! O4 d$ P) U# b( hI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
' u2 u" u- O" {8 X& |9 E
the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
8 e* F' h; |5 [2 O" q
wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
9 E- d# e2 z5 v! X, Ytape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
) H y h7 f2 L3 ~. o% D9 U2 N" ~
'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
; g! V& I' ]* N9 m+ u
the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
|; T8 X5 Q: e, P/ |: ]; w5 s
several pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
+ G! l p: H" E1 s5 P5 z) gonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
6 ~! j/ b. W- b1 @- N6 l
things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
2 m- @2 U. e9 c7 A
VERY silly money.
+ {: R$ f' v8 v- R; p
3 a- c& [4 s, ?' @8 D+ R6 b9 a
2 s# l, S0 f2 @2 V: `" k `