Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
" z! F/ I5 H$ V# x0 P4 K* ^the various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
3 u7 s' A' e% X* q
the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
" n& L# w/ \; s9 M/ D- T! V2 Xmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
( t# n( g/ `; I3 k
8 L7 V6 t% I: ?/ T0 ]5 D(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
y- n; Z2 {: T/ r+ {6 |& z6 [! X4 Q& M6 O4 }
5 j# f3 t. R, @" R9 a: KClick on either of the above images for more information.
$ ~2 J5 @( i1 ]! N9 A
0 c _+ Y/ r4 a0 N9 x+ d
( w L3 q. N6 w7 x/ B6 M* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
7 E, w l9 I) I0 x w9 T) M
beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
/ ]* j/ L8 P6 S" j8 `There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
$ ~9 V V' x; e7 m
6 Z6 @$ J, I/ i; I3 B, j1 I3 n+ o0 V5 ~7 E H1 F
Nagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
( r2 K3 X- [7 @0 M0 [( I% X' |8 D0 W/ }/ r1 H: |/ w; p$ L5 k2 U
Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
8 j) D2 z8 T! T5 K
" p/ @& j7 L7 ~* oNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
; P, G) H2 S7 M* B, U5 v, R- I7 s9 r5 Z+ N: K/ u
Nagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
7 h' ~0 x' ~( Y- L
; v" v; m$ M7 W/ O: q4 h$ z. T5 C6 \4 ~; Q. D
Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
- c8 A R7 r3 a1 S" I
have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
3 |0 q7 p) M! h y! htherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
0 t7 k4 H; I7 z# qrecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
q- x M5 }3 f m% I
DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
/ y$ l" @. }1 f
recorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
/ X0 e: f7 x# L* l1 D
truly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
d& f' a G2 `( h& x: {
be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
8 Z [) M3 _( V" l8 P: Y4 x
electronics and be very expensive.
# Z+ n- N* `, [
4 [/ z' t( P+ h3 W
. u# ^# ~% Y: `: X) z
Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
0 j+ s" ?7 g4 q ~8 t# X( [3 W4 D
- ]/ w. ]; C. B9 s& p7 X+ ~( }) ?Tape for the Nagra SN
5 O6 ]3 {' L& q! U: a: g( v
t" `1 b- T& C6 N
" k8 C6 Q# F3 ]' g, s
I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
7 s- D) e, x8 o6 u6 _% C7 \
the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
5 e& b- _' P9 Qwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
% B8 E9 u* w+ H7 m$ I9 H
tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
) O4 D8 t7 c. b/ N4 z'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
, l8 K7 A# t4 M/ o
the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
3 H; C5 B& b! L2 a6 lseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
6 l, C) ^. L& q F
onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
1 i2 R) W' C+ }& f- N0 o% P
things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
2 ~2 s' S/ k2 E9 U7 W! R+ w* JVERY silly money.
8 C& ?- g# I# w: d
L" [& T) b9 O3 T: ~) U
$ p- e. G, {) n" r2 M' l; m