Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
- F3 \6 X6 w( n! p. J, k( @the various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
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the 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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3 B( t2 u) H6 s, m; w/ |7 D& E(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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0 |! D/ C/ `, {/ Q5 }5 ^% \Click on either of the above images for more information.
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$ D2 J5 X+ @, R- u+ D; G* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
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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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$ {- b8 `( o: Z" ], d3 ? V2 i" u' lNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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t0 T8 x$ O5 [, Q' L3 ZNagra 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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/ X4 y0 e2 q0 Y8 z) ENagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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7 u! i; U2 [( ]4 |* e: }; i) dApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
( ~( P, \5 W5 y" ~& Q: L9 lhave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
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therefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
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recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
. h: F8 t) o! m+ @) BDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
7 J- a) g; w4 q. R! M" F9 Rrecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
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truly 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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9 B- _( [3 |& XCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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3 T" W3 Y5 i9 c2 A' f; Z O8 vTape 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
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the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
4 ?2 ~' p, h& zwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
D/ C+ D5 Z& ?( Q% {% W a1 Ptape 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
3 _3 g2 {: R4 B, N6 ]" y) ethe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
( L1 D- R1 t& k2 |several pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
( h& t8 C5 ~5 B2 yonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
( l! R' j( {0 ?- k# nthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
" T! q. d% e/ n$ j" j O) I( OVERY silly money.
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