Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
6 Q' z, k) ]1 h/ |/ P8 D C; \the various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
$ z4 \7 ~& W, e3 j( N; cthe 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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' T# B& A8 L" @% o/ Q! {Click on either of the above images for more information.
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* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
7 e0 K# }3 x6 G7 u' Pbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
5 k( k0 Y" [" m. ]% Z; o) N9 k+ SThere 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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Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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- ?" W+ T( [+ z$ P MNagra 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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, \$ u5 s" W2 _9 A& z2 K2 {/ Q' [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
2 o4 q$ i8 m' G H" Qtherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
& \1 x Z& k) U3 W0 a( S3 krecording 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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truly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
& D( a) R, C4 D/ X, R. \* Jbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
4 K5 E$ L8 f x( }) Felectronics and be very expensive.
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5 z% Z- D3 O# w Q7 R' E* [! rCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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) M. C8 b9 B6 \# mTape 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
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the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
: [, w: G& E7 K: b8 R3 fwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
( B, \1 y; x4 _ _) Itape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
- O* ^/ n$ A% V9 m* y/ J; B+ ?'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
1 r* F* [7 z- D- Hthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
" o5 w* V: R! O! Bseveral 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
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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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