Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
% [% J) ]7 g& d4 C2 Rthe 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
" }+ }2 h. `1 w2 P8 c: jmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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+ n% V3 i$ N( v' j5 G(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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- l, p& h" ]7 G( Y# kClick on either of the above images for more information.
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: X2 O* M2 l( ]: B- H7 l* 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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; B( U& C) l& 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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- o! a. j$ j" q _: Z" oNagra 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
# U8 ~2 c9 s/ m" @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
4 O0 G+ Q, n8 O [% N1 n! f4 rrecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
4 G* N! j5 V3 ]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
! r, Q7 H ~2 w& d4 c7 jtruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
5 ? T# f$ V2 d% }" g- rbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
3 M9 n1 R1 b- K& pelectronics and be very expensive.
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3 e$ c* Y0 P! uCheaper 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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$ V8 h! Y0 Y8 t l; ?, _I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
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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
9 J- M* h* E7 F4 b, R; Rtape 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
) M: C+ ^( |" sthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
3 o+ W/ ^1 h( n) l2 ^several pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
; G+ a( Z+ g4 S* [# R$ f* R0 Uonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
9 Q# d* O' r# b2 h' b; jthings 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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