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
6 h6 e; v1 `1 ^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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9 m5 B0 u6 X' B5 \(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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1 e. |( d& R" I$ R% sClick on either of the above images for more information.
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8 L6 L2 Z/ d; i- ?- v" T* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
6 C: s z; K& |6 ubeware, 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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1 h" C9 z5 }, ^7 I' p% }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
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have 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
6 t: ~* t; Q. t3 B4 V6 c" }( L/ Xtruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
) y8 f( A! p0 x/ xbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
1 C( C6 o: o; i. l) e1 delectronics 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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% @2 U' Y, `4 h' N( E& z2 ^; nI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
6 @1 u# t2 ]0 M3 ?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
7 m+ J. G& q0 S'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
) a7 E y( P( [" h% ]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
/ \# N$ f2 Z2 ^! Ponto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
( a! Z" C+ L8 i; s: Mthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
6 Y3 `$ ?9 k# z& ?" g* k5 yVERY silly money.
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