Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
- w' ~; R6 @5 C# g
the various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
! _% C! p. P3 A
the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
3 D/ O8 b5 h+ g# v0 K: f# M9 G0 k
machines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
9 o3 h+ M- o7 z" J& H9 o
9 G0 N a1 Z- o8 m(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
# y# w, u2 |- y6 w1 |9 b
) }! o% U2 W- n7 H2 @; }
, j* v$ ^" R8 V& X( W
Click on either of the above images for more information.
' q9 D/ @0 Q5 y+ w8 d
; w/ G/ @1 a- w( ]4 m& u; Y( ]# P' v) Y& N/ P$ d
* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
- _; f; B' s P$ B5 rbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
, V; r v8 W4 x9 s& R" Y; g3 b( mThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
! ~7 d) P7 W7 ?, g/ X. r
9 {9 u4 w/ i2 Z. S! H: l3 a2 u1 t! c `; K% X2 a5 G3 Q4 Z
Nagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
' N& G/ p) O! F4 f# r
. _5 E7 y) R* D! h$ p
Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
5 Z7 g5 c( ?2 p9 K" V
1 v3 W+ m# w0 f, z4 P
Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
# n' N4 o2 N1 d& B v) `7 t2 n
1 P- Z+ J W; {
Nagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
! o; z. l7 l3 Q' _& Z) R* O9 c9 D( Y7 _
, d1 K: N( [4 L1 l$ L
Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
* B* E( N r7 r/ J8 z4 {8 I6 Chave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
! c, n# o) A7 O
therefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
- b- W; a2 L0 l6 q8 zrecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
" N) f4 Y J% p: ^# Q
DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
1 E9 i0 O! g0 o7 Grecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
& o0 P" X! M4 M+ ^
truly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
8 I9 W! t7 a/ ^3 ~3 Q6 cbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
4 }, z/ X2 S' }) R
electronics and be very expensive.
5 M. A" q, z V4 Y' z) V9 T! c) s U, e
# d, [8 f* k: N' i8 J% C" Y2 {7 mCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
6 D( v$ i5 Z" X, Q; f/ P, g: p
% a! ^! a" N3 }3 ]5 b, ]7 `! i8 X+ ^6 X% q5 Z& {7 J( N
Tape for the Nagra SN
# q1 {& o0 C2 x& c) p2 s6 e: |% \5 _8 t/ d9 v" E j$ w% r
/ P' I: b) u+ l2 J. X8 Y( m$ P6 S
I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
: I& h/ M& {. b& o
the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
9 c# w& ]/ e3 |; B, T, C7 h% e Pwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
6 Q, S" J* `2 u! @% E" @* A
tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
4 e6 u8 {( A/ p c1 b; W
'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
) V) n3 r- j e7 q& T1 ~/ B, V
the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
; Q' l' Y- n( V& D" R
several pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
* S1 i* J3 a: gonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
7 T/ [9 f }6 b6 j" A
things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
7 w4 [' n! [" ]& K6 j& [. p: }
VERY silly money.
# w. O+ J) a* `& J8 r" E
p. }7 O. b& x# m
5 [4 I( j: l3 _, V$ J9 e# r