Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
" _% Z, Q9 x: i, r& {1 R& J" Z0 n 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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(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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; m! T3 p9 S" ~9 V, YClick 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
1 V* C* O. q5 g7 M: `) A- Y# h9 ^beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
8 V+ k2 `2 p- I* s% `There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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# f6 R# R7 G, ]1 JNagra 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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Nagra 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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- V& Y1 H, |' p/ m, eApparently 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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therefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
7 i. w4 ] k' ]! S1 X8 i# F# S4 vrecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
; p& K2 J5 f4 o9 oDSP) 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
" o$ |$ {9 I6 _& r' E5 b; Jbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
3 L e) G1 y7 Q0 H8 Oelectronics 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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* P2 B9 b5 I/ _# C$ H/ t1 ITape for the Nagra SN
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# C) m2 N5 M* II 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
& p+ O3 ?' @. a6 H# _! Ytape 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
2 O5 c6 A9 d3 O* Y$ r* a0 k. wthe 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
. q& {8 z% _3 m& oonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
2 u6 Y- V# `2 Ythings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
8 |1 ?+ A& U7 g5 C" S* @VERY silly money.
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