Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
! f* i2 M8 n7 Z U+ Z- Cthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
# @$ z2 s; w) e7 ]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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_$ O) ~& ]: n" JClick 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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3 [" N* k# m+ I' L( r, pNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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: G3 a' B( {+ J1 h& J7 Q2 n( j+ mNagra 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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4 Y* h5 m2 l$ U. t RApparently 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
% \ h- o( v8 `0 i1 v: \, `recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
+ J* G6 z" v* X$ |; u5 A, ~3 A/ bDSP) 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
! M9 R3 K5 T. w0 X7 ktruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
- r2 ~) B1 b7 P; Ybe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
0 r: I6 Y' S0 O9 K; Melectronics and be very expensive.
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' @$ v5 H4 y7 B3 w) ]7 j2 oCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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4 z& w) R7 A# M+ q5 z k. e5 ^0 OTape 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
7 [) }' A! ]0 s6 bthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
6 |! l( }3 O4 x( r* X' _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
8 C& I* I) z* @# f" S'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
2 y6 m2 E7 a) a( V2 Nthe 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
7 h, W2 A8 r4 q8 t3 a7 konto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
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things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
5 C5 n0 i* J) y: r, U! nVERY silly money.
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