Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
9 ~$ x4 W' g3 R/ }& f. {the various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
! p0 W2 u2 o' A. b2 H4 x! Ythe 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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(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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7 P+ M) ~( H& R5 {% Y% C* aClick 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
: ]' N% g5 Y3 E& r u6 P; wbeware, 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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Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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, v2 K( }7 Z+ R7 c% D1 V5 mNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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- D7 \) F. U) d/ r# N( ]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
& v- G( G: \1 nhave 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
0 x" n9 c6 D2 }& rrecording 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
8 J7 v. ]( l$ d+ P' z( W% q! d5 D) ~recorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
1 o' j4 }5 t* e5 m! _' ^truly 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
* C7 t6 c7 x+ f" Y6 w# Kelectronics and be very expensive.
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6 W6 R6 U/ g, x/ w9 XCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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8 C7 [8 q2 x. t9 STape for the Nagra SN
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' d7 b8 ^, F* y! x j/ i" o% ~* U7 w6 FI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
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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
2 P6 S) F. @ a) N& d/ C9 V' Dtape 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
/ K" ~% D9 Q! d7 ]/ r# d# pthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
6 k' `% G/ A J4 O2 X J% aseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
% \( ?0 F# `3 U8 |onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
) [# r7 X2 |" V+ [3 Vthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
# Q" S! Z: I! o7 N) s w0 f- iVERY silly money.
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