Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
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the various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
3 s% T2 l( p$ wthe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
- F2 G( ^ x+ h% L+ Amachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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3 c9 X' Y/ u5 a1 d2 N(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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Click on either of the above images for more information.
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+ l+ O1 e, }8 W. m: P: D* 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.
1 o+ H9 V; o9 g, Q! ^: lThere 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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Nagra 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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' h9 U( x( L* |5 _# u7 o+ dNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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0 H! Q( | v) J" ^2 ?- pApparently 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
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optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
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DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
' }: M- y+ A; y$ I$ o; a- i0 brecorders. 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
K1 y8 g; y1 i3 b5 I6 jelectronics 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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Tape 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
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wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
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tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
" p/ c. F/ v+ T- V5 Y'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
& ]8 k- G. A) k; z" [the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
% G- J5 ~' H d, _& dseveral 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
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things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
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