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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" f8 s6 ^1 D7 {(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
d5 n" F, q# l& e+ tbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
- ?, A/ F0 {4 F b2 `; ^There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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! b3 |7 k7 u- o oNagra 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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/ @2 v1 f( b7 i# 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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Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
6 h2 V3 B7 T9 ?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
. n' j" H4 }; P0 crecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
* A+ K1 M, L4 B6 a& t% u, ?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
4 @0 J/ q7 `+ M$ s' I9 xtruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
* K: `8 n' Q/ w+ q$ \: O. L8 Nbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
9 j2 B: W! A& r: _$ D, ~electronics and be very expensive.
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6 c; Z/ v7 t! W3 I/ X2 ECheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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" h0 h, `( A! P9 h3 I TTape for the Nagra SN
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, P; t7 N e" R7 @9 q" dI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
& T/ t; j+ |- @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
1 p. F5 |* [! F" \tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
/ A4 X$ s0 j( {1 \# B'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
) A* @& O9 V$ h7 t- rthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
{+ k) Y Q: e4 r0 A) e) }; M, F7 _several pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
) f$ G; t( a8 ]( M* a" Qonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
! J: [5 h/ D8 ^6 x9 D9 _things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
! _ t7 K' H2 P0 C8 ^VERY silly money.
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