Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
" \. g; V5 G: M2 zthe 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
1 f% f, y5 J: n# p9 V6 @machines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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: s2 K7 k8 f7 u! O8 s(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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- j, I3 w' p$ _. c. ]1 J9 yClick on either of the above images for more information.
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& q6 A# l" {5 }$ y* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
0 d& W$ k3 o9 e. S* G9 Pbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
" H. \7 L; [6 c: Q, l0 \5 ]There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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2 `1 p" d! M8 v, r4 v& e4 NNagra 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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, P0 Q" z! ], P1 L3 F+ rNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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, a* n$ [9 A5 `# SApparently 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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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
. d4 E) O2 L7 b+ i' C" Hrecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
6 y2 k7 j2 O& k8 G% d struly 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
( i5 e6 a9 _$ ielectronics and be very expensive.
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7 d7 S3 E" v$ a* p; |/ ], LCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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) f) L: J+ J9 O1 uTape 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
! Z* S! Z! Z. `' f: o! kthe 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
1 q% b3 a1 j; D$ h2 W8 B' mtape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
- Y. G( N( B( E) ?, ?' {'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
5 \7 n0 d9 _8 B! P: R- z, ]several pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
6 M% x: n/ \% ~/ Xonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
# ?! E ?- X1 _+ l# @things 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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