Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
+ l7 y# n( T* Bthe 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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: R% S# j0 G2 E! \: I; V9 r) M- `(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
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beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
# o; c1 F" v1 c# k% a" [* Q3 bThere 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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+ u. C. W1 n7 M9 KNagra 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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( p6 L |9 M2 I% n2 R. y7 x! W3 SNagra 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
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therefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
6 \4 E3 H2 ?9 {" J# M" ?' _! V) arecording 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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% X' C4 S+ N8 A) @- l9 DCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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+ S( b/ B' g2 X! T9 rTape for the Nagra SN
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8 H: `; Z0 L" J* [; aI 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
/ ]9 B* }5 y! hwanted 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
" G& x& D0 E# Lseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
) k& v8 h. n; z! ]7 n& k" donto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
4 a- }7 M9 e0 `/ e4 tthings 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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