Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
! f/ G/ x) ^; B7 D- qthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
J" ?2 V2 h6 @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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3 W: p8 M1 c: ~+ |) _2 dClick 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
3 m. X. L- q5 h+ p# `beware, 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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: Q/ W* J% _# O% T9 @Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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0 v$ D2 Q4 T4 o# R- D3 LNagra 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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1 @+ W" L, u; j: [Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
; @" C# } R6 Rhave 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
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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
8 }0 r) Y2 d% m7 Ftruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
" V1 d9 L5 E2 y/ O+ dbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
6 W" h; C! V1 P* e1 b9 Velectronics and be very expensive.
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4 I9 x% Z5 V! c5 r: K1 `6 A/ U& _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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I 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
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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
% x9 Q4 _) s F5 C, o5 [& Uonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
: n, a# \3 [2 g* \ Lthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
- n% m6 c% I* a' N; s* T$ L+ N7 dVERY silly money.
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