Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
, ^: [1 h+ W$ k; B- V3 Cthe 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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3 \7 C& H; l" }% W rClick on either of the above images for more information.
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9 L* m c8 E8 _5 X: H$ e+ k% R; h4 H* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
' v! o. Q+ d Y* b4 a; `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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# o# u! K$ I8 U5 e+ k; j- d4 XNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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8 v1 _$ I: h: r+ ]! fNagra 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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therefore be
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
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the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
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be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
/ Q) e9 A/ T* X- G5 A! ^4 belectronics 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
" s# ?+ J* i7 [9 h: e- d0 pthe 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
! s0 l* R7 Q, K7 k2 \$ S$ ptape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
1 }# k# k- O% e" {1 E2 v'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
& n$ r4 w7 `1 C8 [. y, \6 Ethe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
! I$ t/ `8 r9 D, b; Qseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
0 W/ j) f/ c% G8 { ?onto 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
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VERY silly money.
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