Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
$ t& l- u [$ Z/ ]" I4 v2 o1 F 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
2 Q- \/ a# g6 _3 {6 `5 }machines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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- X }7 u2 B5 Y' [, l0 M(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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7 P; \9 C- U+ o* k- G0 t& 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.
. K8 P$ _. T7 G, L" KThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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+ ~; W( @4 v) U2 H) L% zNagra 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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+ P1 w* a6 B2 DNagra 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
# B6 \) o2 f: `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
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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
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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
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be 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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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
' y9 I3 G, W( j3 Xwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
9 M9 {. O7 c& `1 X& btape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
! m9 }; l3 m# M) }3 H: S5 U'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
% I7 i, d7 @& Z5 S! p+ c: a$ `. [the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
# Y3 Q* v' [( b+ I" Rseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
" N( o6 J' r8 d# X4 Oonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
/ b/ d, \! ~- j. R% 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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