Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
/ C9 ^3 p' o2 u# q: X3 ?the various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
' M' q$ w8 G5 }- } k7 j: athe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
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machines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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4 u6 a8 A" F/ a% g" l6 AClick on either of the above images for more information.
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8 C/ ?$ h# Z. c5 x* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
% q% S1 h- j4 I' [beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
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There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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Nagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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, K! B+ g# o5 G' V* X6 {3 JNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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6 @9 H* X3 E4 L( lNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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; o; b5 g* g- A' N9 ]Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
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have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
6 C/ v2 A4 r2 ]/ stherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
( `( ~ h x! l* s0 hrecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
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DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
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recorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
5 A% X+ @' ^) j( Y7 Z, M3 |/ g1 Rtruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
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be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
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electronics and be very expensive.
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Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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3 m1 F2 E' h8 E0 S* [- CTape for the Nagra SN
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I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
1 |% v5 j+ e& C+ Vthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
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wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
% V4 |3 d9 r i1 h1 d% M2 Itape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
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'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
8 N$ c/ |1 `/ [4 Gthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
1 n- R. t w8 O- m9 ?" ?& eseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
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onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
1 I5 X7 `7 Y6 }5 \. s1 i$ ?things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
q9 _, f9 m& v. u* f6 XVERY silly money.
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