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View Full Version : Nagra SNST : Recession, What Recession



Beechwoods
16-06-2009, 20:51
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230348147472

:stalks: :stalks: :stalks:

Bloody good pics there, but blimey, the price!

http://homepage.mac.com/beechwoods/AOS/snst6.jpg

Spectral Morn
16-06-2009, 21:38
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230348147472

:stalks: :stalks: :stalks:

Bloody good pics there, but blimey, the price!

http://homepage.mac.com/beechwoods/AOS/snst6.jpg


Indeed £1200 ish WOW.


Regards D S D L

DSJR
16-06-2009, 21:47
You know Nagra.. VERY expensive walkmans for rich "enthusiasts" or well thrashed walkmans for studios.......

Beechwoods
16-06-2009, 22:04
I'm very enthusiastic, but not very rich :( oh well :confused:

Barry
16-06-2009, 23:26
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3226/2695044170_36e6006002.jpg?v=0

Apart from owning a beautiful example of Swiss precision engineering and audio 'jewellery’, I can't for the life of me see why anyone should want to use one.

They were designed for the CIA for surveillance duties (the SN stands for Série Noire), and were initially full track mono recorders running at 3.75 ips. Later, two track versions ran at an even slower speed of 15/16 ips. The SNST was a stereo machine, but it was only the later SNST-R that had a claimed frequency response of 50 – 15000 Hz +/-2dB. All of these machines used a non-standard tape width of 0.15” (NOT 1/8” as sometimes stated).

£1200 ? – doubt if I would pay that for a Nagra IV-s.

Barry

Beechwoods
17-06-2009, 05:07
I was thinking along the same lines Barry. The SNST wasn't designed to be a stereo machine - it was designed to be a two-mic surveillance machine, and are really only designed for speech. The DSP module was needed for decent playback too. The SNST-R was as you say the only one really designed to be a 'hi-fi' machine. They are rare as hens teeth.

Pricewise you're on the money. I would like one for my collection though! The SNN 3 3/4ips mono is the one I would go for. The relatively 'high speed' mono machines were capable of good quality music recordings, so I've heard...

PS... I read somewhere of someone using 1/8" tape loaded to Nagra reels from cassette pancakes...

If I recall correctly one of our members here has a couple of Nagra SN's (Pulsestudio or Lodgesound). I'll have to dig out their thread.

Barry
18-06-2009, 00:40
Hi Nick,

I have just spotted the poor condition of the idler wheel on the eBay item. Goodness knows how much the buyer will have to pay for a new one!

Regarding the tape width, Wikipedia states 1/8" tape was used, but does go on to say that ‘special versions using unique tape cassettes' were made. Nagra themselves explicitly refer to a 0.15” tape width (for the SNST-R at least).

http://www.nagraaudio.com/highend/pages/productsSNSTR.php

Since 1/8” is slightly narrower than 0.15”, I can well imagine owners trying to use tape taken from standard audiocassettes on their machines. Not sure how well the tape would align with the heads.


Some time ago when I was researching Studer tape machines (I was considering buying a used A62), I came across a web site from a guy called Seblington.

http://www.vintagerecorders.co.uk

He seems to be a ‘one man and his dog’ (well two dogs actually) who has a house full of vintage tape machines: old EMIs; Studers, including a C37, and a Leevers Rich E10. Oh how I would love to get my hands on the latter; British designed and built and the only real competitor to Studer. The BBC used to use them before they replaced them with Studers. Anyway, this man has a good collection of Nagras: a couple of Nagra IV machines; a Nagra IVS; a couple of Nagra III machines and two SN machines (not sure if they are SNN or SNST). You can see all this on one of several video clips he has made for ‘YouTube’.

Regards
Barry