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
2 a" Q. v0 b3 f, O5 x& N1 M. S; c1 n" Dmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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7 L, o7 N1 R/ a' }0 k(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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. L2 ]8 u6 ~8 M4 P! Z# U2 HClick 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.
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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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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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Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
, ?% b+ }. N% S0 o! qhave 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
+ B/ \0 @# e# [8 u3 `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
& P) @8 X M4 u; u! P1 \, @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 j0 j9 o' y! D3 K( |( ^be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
3 D# d& ]9 U! b) _2 L, I' u2 u8 s% ~electronics 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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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
8 U; J5 y/ d& m; Hthe 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
7 b8 v2 b- S5 X2 y7 z8 Gtape 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
. u* J4 V( l7 U, ^# Y- ~5 Cseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
/ |0 v( A6 F* Aonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
0 |2 Q! U+ _! L* ~3 |0 G0 nthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
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