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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9 o$ {. N r9 ?$ H3 i(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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, W5 }; n; }) p5 p3 F* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
- N0 l5 x6 k! [3 s& i% Lbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
1 y1 H/ k L# s g0 u; YThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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3 O0 J$ W7 m% f) Q. @& s, R6 vNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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( M( [- G( x- g; @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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# N/ r4 j# e! G9 I5 YNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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- ]5 N$ V' T6 W* w( M; z! EApparently 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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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
$ @! K1 F& I }& {DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
1 [2 d/ g" {0 B8 `recorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
4 p1 d6 a5 @3 Ltruly 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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6 X0 D& c& \6 x6 qCheaper 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
2 T% W! Q7 `9 V$ [% ythe 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
, L- Y+ N0 i& C- Y- y: n S/ J' Mtape 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
~' L6 N* ]2 y: V; H! vthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
) T) z, t5 \* kseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
/ U- y$ r: `* `# p; E% S3 Y! s3 honto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
2 Q8 M0 H2 H* n- G0 x* Y: f! ythings 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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