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
" n% {- ~$ D. m2 t& Y vthe 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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Click on either of the above images for more information.
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2 h) l' W6 e, h3 X- ?0 t" H. v0 Z* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
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beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
& n! D% i: n5 K) t7 Q, PThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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% r$ @+ a& ?( N' r# i+ T5 X3 y$ XNagra 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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, `5 @; I" l4 s" p* i PNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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_/ g1 Q& n4 U9 _& jNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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, e6 n% p( [" c2 \% I: jApparently 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
0 |; h$ g$ `! ?$ s `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
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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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Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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. o* q. n8 a) p9 S* g8 qTape 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
0 ]# H) C5 Q7 A. M$ Y- L, s& jthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
: h* x6 u: E( r1 [7 M( gwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
0 b! g) m" p5 gtape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
/ Z5 @& ~) W6 [' @* d# x& B5 ?; s'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
1 a1 o, T8 o/ `4 Y/ D0 H Wonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
. ^! I2 Z8 W4 f4 Wthings 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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