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
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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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/ ~! N/ D1 K! o% V: x9 B+ j8 f(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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3 \ T. z. Y$ L$ X, V; ~Click on either of the above images for more information.
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+ Z8 k! d; y, G- F- k% H* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
. K- l4 x* ^' Z5 r! Bbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
* w8 C2 ^9 ]8 s% m! v! { C7 UThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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( C+ c" K6 K8 T. w# ?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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5 |, Z' k) u0 f9 E3 b8 R% o+ s9 ANagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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0 V# b# \& q$ E# kNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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6 Y N2 Q; c7 o5 {: Q. CNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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% S. }& {5 X4 e) m) FApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
+ M( r3 Z$ S( R0 e- z( ^. Thave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
- H- t: n: A' ~3 ctherefore 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
' |8 X/ E) S: w/ Q! a7 Obe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
9 z/ h: E% T0 G$ xelectronics and be very expensive.
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# Y8 P9 d7 D5 _* P) b2 H# `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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% A+ e7 E& s* I5 A* z5 o; ~" RI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
3 [) e4 p' ]6 f) p; ^$ Wthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
' _% g" m9 y+ G2 `2 {" w! ?wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
6 W/ V8 E0 F3 `$ \5 C2 z8 ]tape 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
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the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
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several 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
/ y8 n" v# C8 y+ @" u" }, P; U" Q' O) kVERY silly money.
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