Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
* D% |6 K T& [9 }3 r% H2 |- l+ p4 \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
# F) K( r/ {4 C5 ^5 Umachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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/ N2 c4 @: Z5 }3 G }8 X(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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* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
9 m+ }# P' ^' u( F0 a1 pbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
/ {6 }1 a! c- E4 e l6 VThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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, J, m/ U6 [3 INagra 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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+ q6 j' q0 r1 J% c9 \# b1 vNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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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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* T( a) h: U. ]. q* |2 b5 j+ vApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
# p, U$ U6 o; w) p, A U- l$ ^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
' F" t$ ?3 v: Y9 p: O5 D+ T1 X! Precording 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
2 L- D. _4 N+ n% G0 [' Otruly 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
- L+ \0 Y) a7 m0 a* y/ melectronics and be very expensive.
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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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. E4 s( n) S* l! tI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
$ l _" y! C, V- k, q! w, tthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
, b }9 C: q2 a& }) C) ^7 M$ ~wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
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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
U4 J$ S7 v1 w _- t) Oonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
& P. @4 l6 o4 W3 L3 J) Gthings 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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