Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
2 }+ G, k$ X8 ]6 Rthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
+ K+ K6 x8 B1 Q" ?8 t) lthe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
, Q( X9 S- m6 }% S& G- K Pmachines, 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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Click on either of the above images for more information.
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* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
% M) v; q( H/ F% P8 s( nbeware, 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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$ V1 i* ?7 g4 S& h6 hNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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4 h$ z3 {, S* K1 Z5 sNagra 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
& L. Z j+ j+ t& l9 ?$ rhave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
; Y% U+ s5 r5 Z& ?8 Dtherefore 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
8 w. j3 f/ t& N0 V; y FDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
5 n+ x5 D( k9 J) I3 [( I: @recorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
( n* |' k6 b5 `3 struly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
9 Y. V8 e) X9 g- L' e5 M- xbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
8 _2 C( l; Y9 {( O5 O( [electronics and be very expensive.
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) _. g2 A% h; f* N8 d( C" v9 S) KCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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/ G4 A# A8 I" ?9 T+ E7 e; iTape 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 U: J! [5 e6 j$ l5 e( Sthe 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
( I2 B3 s5 v, w" {$ J- }# S( Ttape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
- @* Q- m& K! U5 G. e" p! Q'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
: [- w8 H' J" ?the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
2 g, b: D9 ^9 q; F% R; e9 d9 Y- Hseveral 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
r p$ w- ?- N6 H bthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
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VERY silly money.
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