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
% ?) h4 d( i2 ~+ c0 Ythe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
9 J$ t' l1 ^9 x" e6 W5 Cmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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! ^0 g: s. j" y( Z1 H: N! c(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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Click on either of the above images for more information.
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5 D( y+ e) p( j! u2 {* 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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5 x( B8 z/ p$ PNagra 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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/ N- h4 I, n+ j5 C1 _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
7 l: n7 Q5 D ], p7 \" x- `# ~8 Z' z$ K# }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
/ i: r8 {5 U5 zrecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
& }9 q: a( \* u+ Jtruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
% D4 Q. o- M( P* O8 Z( L* g% fbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
* f% X' @: j& T$ Welectronics and be very expensive.
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- b, o7 b. C& k9 Q" TCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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" V0 Z% b) [- O1 P' }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
4 J" Y+ w5 H4 @* fthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
. }5 }; r2 d5 Dwanted 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
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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
0 k; q4 J% Z/ O+ k/ Yseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
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onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
; O0 \1 k& r7 g' K! f1 Y5 dthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
8 x' Q+ I, Q* n" B) E: _/ bVERY silly money.
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