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
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the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
+ @( T' ^7 O, u! R9 F; K: D- e- |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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1 E" C2 m, A9 ]( H0 ?Click on either of the above images for more information.
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+ p0 a* Y, g K% y+ I' m* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
' h. F q }1 e( ]" Gbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
0 W7 A3 ?; ~# y7 [There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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/ l/ C6 E# |' ~' ~6 d2 m1 o% p- tNagra 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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9 W9 s& \4 L. N% v7 fNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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Nagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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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
4 D, |( m8 O* B, v( T. _- w/ stherefore 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
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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
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truly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
5 N( q+ \4 r ^. E% _be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
. U/ |4 w. d+ ^* m7 V" M; t" ? S2 oelectronics and be very expensive.
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; G' O- O4 C+ i$ M$ ?5 g$ m9 \Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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! P0 k9 s3 y+ L; B) \1 U2 H; @Tape for the Nagra SN
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9 Y7 a9 j; C: b \) dI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
7 s( ~# _9 U9 \6 K( U7 y; n5 }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
$ S7 U( [) f, N* `$ t+ b'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
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the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
* i) Z8 t* m4 v/ |" Qseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
7 `9 O: y ^! p7 L$ Z8 b8 gonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
( a, b5 q* t/ x7 y8 }things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
' o1 R1 O+ {/ Y0 l) KVERY silly money.
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