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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(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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+ q8 k; t+ u! T6 A' }8 k2 {/ Z* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
W6 _* S' z& f' ^5 \, ~" Jbeware, 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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, }$ B% U4 g8 o6 _( V" {Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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' q+ L& w. L: P# rNagra 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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8 b: K8 B3 h8 k6 R/ W7 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
! e* m$ V9 ~' c4 N4 F; g; p, ~recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
/ o* M5 y% \4 \! C- x6 uDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
" a* j! B( o6 ^+ Jrecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
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the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
1 c$ Z8 l0 m/ ]: q$ y% ~8 Pbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
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electronics and be very expensive.
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+ `4 Y j1 D% `3 rCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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3 N Y" |8 s/ I3 d: cTape for the Nagra SN
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% ], s* U2 h1 R4 R$ G/ n( Q3 wI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
& t: {1 S' I2 w8 e& othe 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
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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
. n+ |. X) B) V# U9 x7 t7 @7 y2 c, P0 Othe 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
7 p. G/ l" k& H9 G- r4 @* gonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
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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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