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
0 j0 _/ v& O8 x. e! B9 pmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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, p# R) I$ L( T4 v$ H(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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. K# F4 v& j3 j1 {. L: C' MClick on either of the above images for more information.
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7 L& p: B( D$ c* 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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. S# l9 U6 }# n4 l9 M& C; wNagra 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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( `! T, ]( w* I7 g$ e! YNagra 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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: C: k$ V3 K+ o7 N7 aApparently 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
_- ]4 ^5 m+ o C1 X2 vtherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
) q2 R" v6 t1 u* T" S- zrecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
( a1 @' y) S2 q5 o7 f; s5 L" Y4 b# qDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
2 ?8 |& x" F! {* N% |7 C) d8 crecorders. 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
5 m& M$ j$ F+ `# t) Wbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
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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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- M+ F2 G1 N LI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
) _$ u f5 M9 C# t5 D0 g$ H- Tthe 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
/ H5 Y6 D: ]- ~! _$ T'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
' `( W/ P9 M: Y$ n3 Uthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
0 n6 v$ U$ S- _8 xseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
1 |8 V6 V* Y d, u- J: r; J1 c# r5 Gonto 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
, _ N# l# t+ L# aVERY silly money.
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