Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
. {- G: P/ a1 g: Q" F9 a$ qthe 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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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
' J' d. Z$ t5 S: [, N3 x' {beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
8 _( n5 x& Y5 ~; W2 D1 eThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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$ S1 X) C! o" [# p2 m% v! p FNagra 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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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
+ X9 K0 n7 B0 m9 I9 w* [/ {: n0 vhave 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
1 U W7 G1 l* X6 z# I* X* vDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
/ k+ Q" s% L# Q, ?+ ^! |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
) E; S4 Q/ T; ]$ {$ ^be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
& A) Y0 }1 u" ?5 E$ x1 @+ selectronics 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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4 J* M% d2 I* S2 p) @/ ]/ bI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
" U; O+ Y; I) J8 q+ cthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
! g) @3 v- B5 |0 `5 i( Zwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
4 n$ K: D9 u4 n& |& t$ ?2 w. Utape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
9 ~7 [; V4 g' w9 X+ g" _'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
" D& I2 I; u0 _) L; N0 l- S: Gthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
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several 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
1 L- u4 n& c+ K: R" q% d& A6 o3 D' ~VERY silly money.
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